It won’t come as a surprise to you that I am a major Nutella aficionado. Just spend a few minutes browsing the website and it pops up a lot.

Like this crazy Kinder vs Nutella Cake

It took me way too long to realise that it was Nutella inside Ferrero Rocher… *ahem*

The sweet, nutty, chocolatey stuff is definitely one of my baking and snacking rock stars, sharing the throne with the champ that is peanut butter. Seriously, I even wrote a love letter to that golden goodness, check it out here.

But what is it about Nutella that makes it so damn irresistible? For me, the combination of hazelnut and chocolate into a creamy smooth spread is just genius. The hazelnut somehow mellows out the chocolate and gives it depth, and while it is undeniably sweet, it pairs SO well with chocolate, vanilla, coffee, caramel, and even orange.

You can even use it in cookies:

It’s a baker’s dream.

So it’s no surprise that it also happens to be one of the world’s most popular food items. Even more so than peanut butter, if you can believe that!

Here’s some pretty nutty trivia about Nutella that’ll make your day sweeter:

NUTELLA FACT 1

As the name suggests, Nutella is indeed full of nuts, hazelnuts to be exact. And the popularity is such that 25% of the ENTIRE world’s hazelnut crop are used every year to make the sweet stuff. With 50 hazelnuts in each jar alone, that’s A LOT of nuts!

NUTELLA FACT 2

Nutella is more popular than babies. Seriously. Around the world, 1 jar is sold every 2.5 seconds, compared to 1 baby born every 4 seconds.

NUTELLA FACT 3

In case you were wondering what all this Nutella would actually look like in one place, you could cover the Great Wall of China eight times with the amount sold in a year. I don’t recommend trying though.

NUTELLA FACT 4

The French are largely responsible for these epic numbers. They consume an average of 1 kilo per person, per year. Remember that’s an average which means there are some French people eating way more than that!

NUTELLA FACT 5

Nutella is a bit of a social media babe, with over 6 million pics tagged #nutella on Instagram. I’ve totes contributed at least a few dozen of my own…

Ferrero Rocher Cake

NUTELLA FACT 6

And it’s not just Insta fame for our favourite spread, which at over 30 million Facebook likes, is the second most popular food brand in the world after Oreo.

NUTELLA FACT 7

We wouldn’t have Nutella in our lives at all if it wasn’t for war. Italian baker Pietro Ferrero (yes the very same genius behind Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tacs!!) created Nutella as a cheaper alternative to chocolate after the Second World War restricted supplies.

NUTELLA FACT 8

Nutella is actually an evolution of gianduja, a thick, firm paste of chocolate and hazelnuts invented in Italy. It used to be sliced and eaten with bread, before becoming the spreadable version we love today.

NUTELLA FACT 9

The name comes from the English word ‘nut’ (duh) combined with the Latin suffix for sweet- ‘ella’. Ey ey ey, under my nut-er-ella ella ella ey ey…. geddit?!

Nutella related crime is on the up! | Pic via Telegraph

NUTELLA FACT 10

And as if you needed any further proof that Nutella is the world’s most valuable commodity, Nutella crime is on the up. In 2013, 5.5 tonnes worth a HUGE £20,000 was stolen from a parked lorry in Germany. You should probably padlock your stash.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO SATISFY YOUR NUTELLA ADDICTION, GET IN TOUCH TO ORDER YOUR NEXT BIRTHDAY, CELEBRATION OR WEDDING CAKE