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The secret of the craft, says Nobili, lies in the firm and rapid movement of the wrists and hands to scoop up the paste before it solidifies, smooth it over with spatulas and give it final cut with a butter knife to achieve the prism-like shape. Now there’s just one left – the A.Giordano boutique. Only a handful of gianduiere remain at the historic chocolate lab, which was founded in 1897.
In Piedmontese, the Gianduiotto chocolate is called Giandojòt – international phonetic alphabet [ʤandʊ’jɔt], – and it is one of the traditional agri-food products recognized by law by the Ministry for agricultural food and forestry policies. Initially called givù (or stubs,) gianduiotto became famous when the general public apparently got their first real taste as the treats were handed out during Turin’s 1865 carnival celebrations by an actor dressed as Gianduja. The most savory artisan gianduiotti are those with the highest percentage, usually between 25 and 40%, of hazelnuts. The idea of mixing hazelnut pieces to "standard" chocolates is said to have arisen during Napoleon's reign, when importing cocoa from South America became difficult. With "raw" cocoa's high prices, local producers started incorporating bits of roasted hazelnuts (which were locally grown and readily available in Piedmont) to make the final product more affordable.They’re Piedmont’s gold, absolutely the best in the world,” he adds, before explaining that the hazelnuts are priced at €16 per kilogram versus €10 per kilogram for high quality cocoa. We are the only ones who still hand make gianduiotti. It’s very expensive to employ such skilled labor,” says owner Laura Faletti. It had humble origins but then became an elite, niche product of the highest quality, the first ever to be wrapped [in foil] in the history of chocolate.”
After mixing them with sugar and the very little cocoa they still had on their shelves, they were able to create a rich paste that was eventually refined and honed into gianduiotto. It’s a job only women can do, for it requires a lot of passion, patience and precision. A bit like hand stitching. It can be quite tiresome, I need to rotate my gianduiere in shifts otherwise their hands get muscle cramps.”
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Davide Appendino, another top Turin chocolatier, uses a wide array of top quality biological cacao beans to make pistachio, coffee, white chocolate, dark chocolate and sugar free gianduiotti sold in colorful wraps. The hazelnuts used to make gianduiotto can be found growing in the Langhe region of Italy. Cooper/ullstein bild/Getty Images When Napoleon Bonaparte conquered northern Italy and declared war against Britain in 1806, he banned all English-imported goods, including cocoa beans. Gianduiotto isn’t available all year round. Artisan boutiques halt production when spring is near to avoid selling melted chocolates, which is actually another gourmet delicacy made with the gianduia hazelnut paste. Artisan chocolatier Guido Castagna has created a highly-refined version of gianduiotto chocolate called Giuinott. Castagna
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