What is Gianduja anyways?

We have lots of gianduja hanging around the shop for the holidays, so we thought we’d better re-introduce this amazing treat so you can get to enjoying it.

Gianduja was first invented in Turin, Italy by Paul Caffarel in 1865. By grinding hazelnuts into a paste and then adding it to chocolate and sugar, he was able  to produce a creamy, nutty treat. Originally this confection was shaped into gianduiotti (below)almost like an upturned boat – then wrapped in foil. Today though, it comes in an array of forms, including bars and spreads.

Which gianduja do we love?

From Venchi, classic gianduiotti wrapped in gold, both in small and larger sizes. They also sent us holiday Nutcracker boxes, with 10 pieces of gianduja festively bound. And finally, jars of white gianduja spread (think Nutella), with a hint of vanilla.

Amedei boasts one of the best gianduja bars we’ve ever tried, combining beautiful hazelnuts with their amazing craft chocolate. They also produce a drinking chocolate that combines finely ground hazelnuts with their 63% dark chocolate – a serious treat to sip during the cooler months.

And finally from French maker François Pralus, Barre Infernales. These beauties come in a brick style shape, and feature a hazelnut gianduja paste, studded with whole hazelnuts, all enrobed with either milk or dark chocolate. We can never get enough of either.

So there you have it. Hopefully you’re able to sit down over the holidays to savour this Italian beauty. We promise you will be hooked forever.

Mendiants, Gianduja and Mushrooms

We’ve been working on some new things in the Shop lately, so here’s a peek at some of our newest creations now out in the shop:

Packages of milk, white and dark Mendiants are now sitting pretty next to the Meltaways. Flavours are fleur de sel, vanilla bean and fruit and nut.

Outside of our Mothers’ Day collection, we also have two brand new truffles out – Pistachio Gianduja and Hazelnut Gianduja. These are rich and intense truffles, with the smoothness of the ganache provided by the ground nuts themselves.

Finally, we are now selling the Michel Cluizel nougat mushrooms in singles out of the truffle case, so you can purchase just one to munch on… or this entire plate.

Happy Mother’s Day to all those moms out there! Have a great weekend.