I came across a recipe for a Chocolate Hazelnut Torte. One of the ingredients was "2 oz. chocolate hazelnut spread." Is this a common item one can get at a grocery store, and, if not, what kind of specialty store would carry it?

  Chocolate and hazelnut is a classic taste combination in northern Italy, where it goes by the name of gianduia (john due’ ya), and graces cakes, tarts, ice creams and various other confections. Pietro Ferrero, a candy maker in Italy, blended the two into a spread in 1946, and the company that carries on its production says that Nutella has grown to become the best-selling sweet spread in the world.

It is widely available in this country. Click on the Store Locator at the Ferrero site, enter your ZIP code, and it will tell you where the nearest stores are that carry Nutella.

In the interest of fairness, there are a number of competitors in the market, including the Dutch Twist, Winsenia and Nusspli from Germany, and Nirvana from Belgium. All are available online and certainly in some specialty foods and gourmet shops, but none that we know of have an online store locator to point you to a store within 5 to 30 miles of your kitchen.  

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