Novi Gianduja

During the Napoleonic wars, trade blockades made cocoa scarce in Italy. Then two clever chocolatiers had an idea. “Hey,” they said (in Italian), “We can’t help but notice that we live in Italy’s biggest hazelnut-growing region. We literally have more hazelnuts than we know what to do with.” Now gianduja (jan-doo-ya) is one of the most popular flavors in Italy, used in cakes, gelato and candy bars (like this one). Silky chocolate stuffed with toasty hazelnuts? Yeah, easy to see why it caught on.