Nutella facts for kids
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A jar of Nutella and bread with Nutella spread
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| Owner | Ferrero International SpA |
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| Introduced | 1964 |
Nutella is a popular sweet spread made from hazelnuts and cocoa. It's known for its creamy, chocolatey taste. The Italian company Ferrero makes Nutella. It first came out in 1964, but its story began even earlier.
Contents
The Story of Nutella
How Nutella Began
Nutella's journey started in Alba, Italy. This town is famous for its hazelnuts. A baker named Pietro Ferrero owned a bakery there. In 1946, he created a sweet paste called Pasta Gianduja. It was a solid block, like a candy bar.
Later, in 1951, Pietro Ferrero made a creamier version. This new spread was called Supercrema gianduja. It was much easier to spread on bread.
Nutella Goes Global
In 1963, Pietro's son, Michele Ferrero, decided to make the spread even better. He wanted to sell it all over Europe. Michele changed the recipe a bit and gave it a new name: "Nutella." The very first jar of Nutella left the factory on April 20, 1964. People loved it right away!
Nutella became very popular as Italy's economy grew. It was a hit with both kids and adults. In 1983, Nutella arrived in America for the first time.
Important Moments for Nutella
In 2012, there was a discussion in France about a tax on palm oil. Palm oil is a main ingredient in Nutella. This tax was sometimes called "the Nutella tax" in the news.
On May 14, 2014, Italy celebrated Nutella's 50th birthday. They even made a special postage stamp! Ferrero also held a "Nutella Day" on May 17 and 18 to celebrate this big anniversary.
What's in Nutella?
Main Ingredients
The main ingredients in Nutella are sugar and palm oil. These two make up more than half of the spread. It also has hazelnuts (about 13%), cocoa, and skimmed milk. In some countries, like the United States and the United Kingdom, it also contains soy products.
Nutella is called "hazelnut cream" in many places. Italian law says it cannot be called "chocolate cream." This is because it doesn't have enough cocoa to meet the rules for chocolate. Each 220-gram jar of Nutella uses about 50 hazelnuts. Ferrero uses a lot of the world's hazelnuts, but not all of them go into Nutella.
In 2017, the company changed the recipe a little. They added more sugar and skimmed milk powder. This made the spread a bit lighter in color.
How Ingredients Are Chosen
The original recipe for gianduja (which Nutella came from) had a lot more hazelnut paste and chocolate. Nutella was created in Italy after World War II. At that time, cocoa beans were hard to find. So, they used more hazelnuts to make up for the lack of cocoa.
How Nutella Is Made
Nutella is a chocolate and hazelnut spread. But it's mostly made of sugar and palm oil. Making Nutella is similar to making other chocolate spreads. The ingredients are sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa powder, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, soy lecithin, and vanillin.
Making Cocoa Powder
The process starts with cocoa beans. These beans are picked from cocoa trees. They dry for about ten days before being sent to the factory. Cocoa beans have a lot of cocoa butter. They are roasted to turn them into a liquid. This liquid then goes into presses. These presses squeeze out the cocoa butter. What's left are round discs of pure cocoa. The cocoa butter is used for other products.
Preparing Hazelnuts
Next, the hazelnuts arrive at the factory. They are checked to make sure they are good quality. A special machine cuts the nuts to check inside. After this, the hazelnuts are cleaned and roasted. A computer uses air to remove any bad nuts. This makes sure every jar of Nutella tastes and looks the same. The company says there are about 50 hazelnuts in each jar.
Mixing It All Together
The cocoa powder, hazelnuts, sugar, vanillin, and skim milk are all mixed in a big tank. They become a thick, paste-like spread. Palm oil is added next. It helps Nutella stay solid at room temperature. It takes the place of the cocoa butter that was removed earlier.
Whey powder is added to help bind the paste. It stops the product from separating. Lecithin, a type of fat, is also added. It helps all the ingredients mix smoothly. This makes the paste easy to spread. Vanillin is added to make the chocolate taste even sweeter.
Nutella's Nutrition Facts
| Place of origin | Italy |
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| Main ingredients | Sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa solids, milk powder |
| 80 kcal (335 kJ) |
Nutella contains about 10.4% saturated fat and 58% processed sugar by weight. A serving of about two tablespoons (37 grams) of Nutella has 200 calories. This includes 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5 grams of which are saturated fat). It also has 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. A serving also contains 15 milligrams of sodium and 2 grams of protein.
Where Nutella Is Made
Nutella is made in many different factories around the world. For North America, it's made in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and in San José Iturbide, Mexico.
For Australia and New Zealand, Nutella has been made in Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia, since the late 1970s.
In Italy, two of Ferrero's four factories make Nutella. These are in Alba and Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi. There's also a factory in Villers-Écalles, France. For Eastern Europe and South Africa, it's made in Warsaw, Poland, and Manisa, Turkey. For Germany and northern Europe, Nutella is made in Stadtallendorf, Germany. Nutella is also produced in Vladimir, Russia, and Poços de Caldas, Brazil. Some of the Nutella made in Brazil is sent to other countries. It's also made in Turkey and sent to places like India.
In 2013, about 350,000 tons of Nutella were made worldwide. By 2015, Nutella was sold in 75 countries.
How People Enjoy Nutella
In Italy, people often spread Nutella on slices of filone, which is a type of Italian bread. They also put it between two slices of sandwich bread. These are popular snacks for Italian children after school or during breaks. Nutella is also used as a filling in pastries like cornetti and bomboloni, and in crepes. You can also find it in recipes for cookies like nutellotti.
In Europe, Nutella is a favorite topping for pancakes in Ireland. In Croatia, it fills peach-shaped cookies called breskvice. In France, people spread it on baguettes for breakfast with coffee. Outside of Europe, in Senegal, Nutella is used to fill sandwiches for afternoon snacks.
See also
In Spanish: Nutella para niños
