Gianduiotto
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The Gianduiotto is a Piedmontese chocolate whose shape is similar to an upturned boat. Gianduiotti are individually wrapped in a tinfoil cover, usually gold or silver-colored.
Gianduiotti are produced by mixing sugar, cocoa and hazelnut paste. The official “birth” of Gianduiotti is set at 1865, by a Michele Prochet, the first to completely grind hazelnuts to a paste before adding them to the cocoa and sugar mix.
Apparently, the idea of mixing hazelnut pieces to “standard” chocolates was born during Napoleon’s reign, when importing cocoa from South America became extremely difficult. “Raw” cocoa was extremely expensive, so local producers started incorporating bits of roasted hazelnuts (hazelnuts are locally grown and were easy to come by in Piedmont) to make the final product more affordable.