Spoon in and go: Today is World Nutella Day

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It’s a bit crazy, but today is World Nutella Day. A day created by an American food blogger, who thought it was rather bizarre that Nutella was not widely available in her home country. This day may have been set up by an American, it is really from Italian soil. This is how Nutella is such phenomenon became.

Ferrero

You probably know the Ferrero Rocher bonbons, which are made by the Ferrero company. That company makes Mon Chéri, Kinder Surprise, Kinder Bueno, Raffaello and Tic Tac, among others. Now these are mainly candies, but Nutella is Ferrero’s showpiece for bread. At least, not just on bread. It’s used in drinks, pies, oatmeal, brownies, coffee, cookies, popcorn, and even one Hamburger. It is extremely versatile and you regularly see videos with funny Nutella recipes on Facebook and Instagram that will make your mouth water.

In 1946, Pietro Ferrero developed a cream based on gianduja, which consisted of hazelnuts and cocoa. At first it was a bit harder and was called Pasta Gianduja, but was soon softened. It had been called Nutella from 1964 and was sold from the bakery in Alba, Piedmont. The jar and the label still look the same and the pasta is still made from many hazelnuts. So much so that in 2015 Nutella bought no less than 25 percent of the world’s hazelnut production. Pietro is now no longer at the helm of the company and the CEO is no longer even a Ferrero: Lapo Civiletti now holds that position, although grandson Giovanni Ferrero still has an important role as board member.

Kinder Bueno

Ferrero has mainly been buying companies in recent years. It has bought several companies from Kellog’s, much of Nestlé in America and Little Brownie Bakers. Maybe the latter doesn’t mean much to you, but when we say: all Girl Scout cookies, then you know enough. Nutella is the driving force behind all this success. Even most of the chocolates Ferrero releases have a Nutella undertone. Think Ferrero Rocher and Kinder Bueno.

Funny Nutella Facts

Before you’ve struggled to remove that gold foil and push your tablespoon – or your knife – into the hazelnut spread, we have some fun Nutella facts to tell you about this special topping this Nutella day:

• The number of hazelnuts used to make all the Nutella for two years could fill the Colosseum.
• Nutella generated approximately $ 12 billion in sales in 2019.
• The world record for eating a whole jar of Nutella is 2 minutes 31.67 seconds.
• French Minister Ségolène Royal said in 2015 that Nutella was unsafe for citizens and the planet. On national television she spoke the legendary words: “We have to stop eating Nutella”. The Italian minister was not satisfied with this. At that time it was still the case that Nutella is made with bad palm oil: now that is no longer the case and it is produced with sustainable palm oil.
• About 365,000 tons of Nutella are consumed annually.
• It is not chocolate spread, but hazelnut spread. According to Italian law, pasta can only be called chocolate paste if it contains at least 35 percent cocoa.
• 1.3 million pounds of Nutella are produced every day. The biggest eaters? French! They use 25 percent of the world’s production.
• The Ferrero company doesn’t want World Nutella Day at all. In 2007, the company tried to stop the party going viral after the Nutella Day Facebook page had 40,000 fans in a short time. Ferrero probably wanted to control something like that, but it was too late for that by now.
• Every 2.5 seconds a jar of Nutella is sold somewhere in the world. Note: Nutella is different in America than in Europe. There the ingredients are slightly different and Nutella tastes less strong. In addition, it contains more oil in the United States.

Is Nutella Halal?

Good to know: Nutella is vegetarian, but not vegan. It contains milk powder. It is still unclear whether Nutella is Halal or not. It itself said last year that it is not 100 percent halal, but an objective auditor has declared almost all Nutella factories halal. After that, the company said it was halal. In any case, it is not on the packaging, so it unfortunately remains unclear whether this sweet spread is suitable for Muslims. It is kosher.

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