World Nutella Day

On World Nutella Day, the best way to celebrate is to break out that jar of your favorite spread and have a sweet treat. In 1964, the first jar of what we now call Nutella was sold from a bakery in Alba, Piedmont. Not long after, the chocolate-hazelnut spread would conquer the entire world.

When Michele Ferrero, the son of a small town pastry maker, decided to follow in his father's footsteps, he started from humble beginnings. Nutella is sometimes called an "austerity recipe", as at the time, in the 1950's, the Second World War and rationing had left chocolate in short supply in Italy.

Adding hazelnuts, which were cheaper and more readily available than cocoa, made the spread much more affordable. But it wasn't all the idea of Ferrero, the Turin-based makers of Nutella. In fact, the city has been known for producing hazlenut-infused chocolate since the times of Napeleon.

Hazelnut chocolate cream, or crema gianduia, was invented in the city in 1806, when Napoleon's wars in South America made cocoa beans so astronomically expensive in the Savoy kingdom that local chocolatiers were going out of business - until they hit on the idea of using local hazelnuts to make their chocolate go further. Ferrero products are now found in 170 countries.

The amount of Nutella produced in a year weighs as much as the Empire State building, and the hazelnuts used to make the spread over a two-year period could fill a basket of the size of the Colosseum.

World Nutella Day, first held in 2007, was the brainchild of Nutella enthusiast and blogger Sara Rosso. Fans love it. Each year Ferrero selects one Nutella lover to lead the celebration. On February 5, Nutella fans post pictures, recipes, and messages declaring their love and loyalty to the popular spread. So let's see your contribution?