Nutella is Love! But How Much Do You Know About the Iconic Spread?

On World Nutella Day, a quick look at the story of the best loved hazelnut spread.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram/Nutella USA) 

World Nutella Day is celebrated on 5 February – so make sure you eat some Nutella, share your best Nutella recipes and share some photos of delish Nutella dishes. Not like we really needed an excuse to eat more Nutella, but the world’s favourite chocolate spread definitely deserves a day of its own.

The first pot of Nutella may have been made in 1964, but the whole world is still obsessed with it. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about the creamy, hazelnut chocolate spread

Nutella was born in the 1940s, and was the brainchild of Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker, and father of Michele Ferrero.

Since cocoa was rationed during World War II, Ferrero used hazelnuts, abundant in Piedmont, Italy to make up for the shortage. The word “nut” in Nutella, thus, borrows from this ingredient, while the “ella” was added to give it a soft ending.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

Ferrero SpA, the parent company of chocolate Ferrero Rocher and Nutella, is Italy’s biggest privately owned firm. Run by founder Pietro and later run by Michele Ferrero, the firm is also one of Europe’s largest – with estimated 2012 sales of $19 billion, according to Reuters. The company has never held a press conference.

Nutella is sold in 160 countries. The Ferrero group employs more than 22,000 workers and has sales per year of more than nine billion dollars.

The biggest market for Nutella is Germany, followed by France and Italy. Ferrero produces about 3,65,000 tonnes of Nutella every year.

(This story was first published on 16 February 2015 and has been reposted from The Quint’s archives to mark the occasion of World Nutella Day.)