Gianduiotto

Gianduiotto (Italian: [dʒanduˈjɔtto]; Piedmontese: giandojòt [dʒaŋdʊˈjɔt]) is a chocolate originating in the Piedmont region of Italy. Gianduiotti are shaped like ingots and individually wrapped in a (usually) gold- or silver-colored foil cover. It is a specialty of Turin, and takes its name from gianduja, the preparation of chocolate and hazelnut used for gianduiotti and other sweets (including Nutella and bicerin di gianduiotto). This preparation itself is named after Gianduja, a mask in commedia dell'arte, a type of Italian theater, that represents the archetypal Piedmontese. Indeed, Gianduja's hat inspired the shape of the gianduiotto.

Gianduiotti are produced from a paste of sugar, cocoa and hazelnut Tonda Gentile delle Langhe. The official "birth" of gianduiotti was in 1852 in Turin, by Pierre Paul Caffarel and Michele Prochet, the first to completely grind hazelnuts into a paste before adding them to the cocoa and sugar mix.

Mixing hazelnut pieces to "standard" chocolates began at an industrial scale in response to Britain's blockade of Napoleonic France and its allies in the early 19th century, which greatly limited Italian access to South American cocoa. With "raw" cocoa's high prices, Turin's chocolate makers started incorporating bits of roasted hazelnuts (which were locally grown and readily available in Piedmont) to make the final product more affordable.^[1]

Media related to Gianduiotto at Wikimedia Commons

• List of Italian desserts and pastries
• Gianduja
• Gianduja