The famous Giandujotto is a chocolate in the form of a clove or overturned boat, with varied weight of 8-12 g. The ingredients are: cocoa, sugar and the famous round and gentle Piedmont hazelnuts. Its brown colour varies according to the mix of cocoa used, while the characteristic shape traces back to the old processing systems.
Production Area
All over Piedmont
How it is made
In the past, the processing was completely manual. Today, production comes about in the following phases: dosing and mixing of the raw materials; refining, to render the coarse mixture smoother and more velvety; possible conching, to make the chocolate creamier and have a velvety appearance; tempering to obtain the correct crystallisation of the cocoa butter and and have a stable product during preservation; and modelling to make the chocolate take on its characteristic shape of an upturned boat. This may be done with moulds, machines (pourers) or by hand. Once cooled the giandujotto chocolate is packed in aluminum foil.
History
For quite some time now, hazelnut chocolate has been produced by using small pieces of untoasted hazelnuts. The idea of mixing chocolate with chopped toasted hazelnuts was hatched by Michele Prochet, a pioneer in the confectionery sector of Piedmont.
Some argue that the invention of the "Gianduja nut chocoloate" was born out of necessity: Napoleon, with the continental block (1806), made it almost impossible for Piedmont confectioners to get their supply of cocoa, the price of which became just too prohibitive. So to able to continue producing chocolates and satisfy the demand, some sub-alpine chocolatiers thought of mixing the precious cocoa with a more economic and plentiful ingredient found in their territory: the hazelnut. In 1852, Michele Prochet was already producing this chocolate and hazelnut paste but only in 1865, were they put on the market as the "Gianduja," popularly called "Giandujotti."
The Giandujotto of Turin was the first wrapped chocolate marketed.