After World War II, cocoa was extremely scarce. Ferrero, originally from Piedmont in Italy, turned this tricky problem into a smart solution, creating a sweet paste made from hazelnuts, sugar and just a little of the rare cocoa. The ancestor of Nutella® was born.

Nutella (US: /nuːˈtɛlə/ noo-TEL-ə, UK: /nʌˈtɛlə/ nuh-TEL-ə, Italian: [nuˈtɛlla]) is a brand of sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero and was introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963.

Nutella, the original hazelnut spread, is a combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk, and cocoa with a creamy consistency and a chocolate taste with a hint of roasted nut flavor. Nutella is to Italians what peanut butter is to Americans.

A riff on pasta gianduja, a chocolate paste invented in Turin during Napoleon's rule (1796-1814, in case you don't have a history book handy) Ferrero's initial creation was something of a chocolate block that could be cut and sandwiched between slices of bread - economical, certainly, but not so appealing.

The popular chocolate-hazelnut spread originated in Italy, true. But is the recipe different stateside? As you may have guessed by a peek through the pages of our magazine and a quick scroll through our recipe archives, we're big fans of all things spreadable.

The ingredients in both the European and American versions include sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, and vanillin, which is an artificial flavor. Where the two jars differ, Serious Eats states that it is possibly with their hazelnut and milk content. The Italian version is made of 13% hazelnuts and 5% milk.

A two-tablespoon serving contains 200 calories, 21 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of fat. It also has small amounts of protein, iron, and calcium. This is not much nutrition and many of the ingredients are bad for your health. Nutella tastes sweet because it contains a large amount of sugar.

European Nutella specifies percentages of each that 13 percent of the finished product is hazelnut, and 7.4 percent of the recipe is cocoa. No such proportions are offered for American Nutella - which is why many who have tried both verify that there are small but notable differences in color, flavor, and texture.

Nutella is a sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread made by Ferrero, an Italian company that's the third-largest chocolate producer in the world. It was originally created in Italy during World War II when baker Pietro Ferrero added ground hazelnuts to a chocolate spread to make up for a shortage of cocoa in the country.

Nutella as we know it launched in 1964

• The first version of Nutella was created after World War II.
• Nutella requires a lot of hazelnuts.
• There is no knife hidden in the lid.
• World Nutella Day was started by a blogger in 2007.

Sponsorship of the Italian national football team This brought about brand recognition throughout the world, as people started to link Nutella with Italian national sentiment. The sponsorship of a national athletic team also made people associate Nutella with healthy eating and a balanced diet.

Nutella and Ferrero Rocher are popular in Europe for several reasons: Taste: Nutella and Ferrero Rocher are known for their rich, chocolatey taste that many people find irresistible. They are both made with high-quality ingredients and have a unique and delicious flavor that people enjoy.