It starts with a product that is, well, the only way to put it is…addicting. During World War 2, an Italian confectionary company was having trouble accessing enough chocolate to create its products, so it turned to filberts. Filberts are small nuts, about the size of a marble, and completely delicious. By crunching up the filberts and putting them into chocolate, the company created a taste sensation and greatly expanded their production potential. And things got even better. Folks liked the crunchy-filbert recipe just fine, but then the company created a creamier version that could be spread on anything. Grazie Dio! Suddenly everything – from bananas to croissants to celery to your own fingers – were simply smearingly sensational.
But there’s a couple of problems with filberts. First, they have a very small growth range, with Turkey producing about 70% of the world’s supply. And in the past few years, there have been numerous frosts and hailstorms there which have cut that production approximately in half. Meanwhile, in the Americas, an attempt in the early 1900’s to develop a filbert industry failed when the plants were wiped out by a disease called Eastern Filbert Blight. The only places where the plants survived were Oregon and Washington, which have a sizeable filbert industry. But since the 1960’s the Blight has impacted those harvests too. The National Arbor Day has tried to create blight-resistant hybrids, with little success.
So here’s where things go from creamy to sticky. The chocolate company needs about 50 filberts for each jar of its product. And the product has become so popular – with $2.5Billion in sales – that the company uses up 25% of the world’s supply of filberts to fulfill production. All of which has created a filbert famine which has made the price of the nuts go nuts. In desperation, the chocolate company recently purchased its primary Turkish filbert supplier, ensuring they will get the supply they need, but putting the rest of the market at risk.
And why should you care? Well, filberts are more commonly known as hazel nuts. And the product’s name is Nutella. (Admit it, you just read that and said out loud, “ooh, Nutella,” didn’t you?) And ironically, this is the 50th anniversary of Nutella’s creation. The chocolate company – Ferrero – has issued press releases ensuring they will be able to meet demand, but there’s no telling how much you’re going to have to pay to satisfy your Nutella cravings.
Meanwhile, if you like anything else with hazel nuts in it – from praline to truffles to Macchiato to Frangelico – you might just be out of luck for a while. Mama mia.
So, thanks, Nutella, for wrecking the world hazel market. But it’s your birthday, and you are so sinful we’ll have to forgive you.
Unless of course, one considers that your other key ingredient is palm oil which is a health hazard, and the production of which is destroying the rain forest in Indonesia, and…No, No, NO!
Must have Nutella!! Pass the jar.
– Mike Keeler
