Gianduja is a sweet chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 containing about 30% hazelnut

Hazelnut

A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...

 paste, invented in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 by Caffarel

Caffarel

Caffarel is a chocolate manufacturing company with a long history, currently based at Luserna San Giovanni, Italy. It is now a subsidiary of Lindt & Sprüngli.-References:* - investor information, list of subsidiaries....

 in 1852. It takes its name from Gianduja

Gianduja (commedia dell'arte)

Gianduja is one of the masks of the Italian Commedia dell'Arte, typically representing the town of Turin .The mask depicts an honest peasant of Piedmontese countryland, with a certain inclination for wine , gastronomy and beautiful girls, while strictly faithful to his lover Giacometta, who is...

, a Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

 and marionette

Marionette

A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...

 character who represents the archetypal Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

ese, a native of the Italian region where hazelnut confectionery is common.

Some related products are:

• Gianduiotti
  Gianduiotto
  thumb|Two GianduiottiThe Gianduiotto is a Piedmontese chocolate whose shape is similar to an upturned boat. Gianduiotti are individually wrapped in a tinfoil cover, usually gold or silver-colored...
  
  , a speciality of Turin
  Turin
  Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
  
  , are chocolates shaped like an upturned boat, again made with a mixture of cocoa and hazelnut paste. Invented by Caffarel in 1865, it is still a trade mark for the company
• Nutella
  Nutella
  Nutella is the brand name of a chocolate spread. Nutella, manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, was introduced on the market in 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero spread released in 1944. Nutella is now sold in over 75 countries....
  
  , which was originally called Pasta Gianduja.

In addition to the classic interpretation of gianduja, modern confectioners often term any combination of nut, chocolate and sugar as a gianduja, such as almonds, dark chocolate and sugar or walnuts, milk chocolate and sugar.

Origin of the name

"Giandla duja" is also Piedmontese

Piedmontese language

Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group . It is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, including French, Occitan, and Catalan.Many European and...

 for the hazelnut "giandula", and "giandulott" is the kernel of drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

s. The English translation into "sweet nut" hits the original description of the Albese dialect meaning, and the terms gianda, gandula, gandulin and gandulott are well known throughout the areas of Gallo-Italic parlance.