Hazelnuts in Dark Chocolate

Hazelnuts in dark chocolate

Hazelnuts in dark chocolate by Tastelanghe from Piedmont. Whole, roasted Tonda Gentile hazelnuts, making up 35% of the pack, coated layer by layer with dark chocolate in a revolving pan. The most tart of the four varieties, 110 grams.

Hazelnuts in dark chocolate are chocolate-coated nuts from Piedmont. At Tastelanghe, whole, roasted hazelnuts from their own family farm are coated with dark chocolate in a panning machine. The nut content is 35%, and the chocolate contains a small amount of whole milk powder in addition to cocoa.

Not too sweet, but intense

Bold, roasted, full-nut flavor: a whole hazelnut under a layer of dark chocolate. It is the most tart of the four varieties and the one that tastes least like a sweet treat and most like a gourmet indulgence. If you like dark chocolate, you have found your classic snack here.

The coating isn't entirely purist: the dark chocolate contains a portion of whole milk powder, which softens the bitterness. This makes it more accessible than a pure dark chocolate couverture and is the reason why even people who usually avoid dark chocolate will reach for these.

Why the nut must remain whole

When panning, shape is everything. A whole, round hazelnut can be coated evenly because it rolls in the drum. Broken pieces stay put, receiving too much chocolate on one side and too little on the other.

That is why they are sorted before panning. Anything that isn't round enough goes into the creams or praline mixtures – nothing is lost, it just finds a different path.

Thirty-five percent nut content means: each pack contains significantly more nuts than standard chocolate-covered treats. The Tonda Gentile grows on 40 hectares in Somano, the village of the Quazzo family in the Alta Langa.

The roast makes the difference

Before a nut is allowed into the panning machine, it is roasted. The degree of this roast determines the entire character: too light, and the nut remains grassy; too dark, and it becomes bitter and dry.

At Tastelanghe, they roast rather conservatively, in small batches. You could get away with a stronger roast under dark chocolate, but then the nut would lose its own identity against the cocoa.

Furthermore, the cocoa flavor masks less than you might think. Precisely because the coating has little sugar, the roasted note of the hazelnut stands out most clearly here – of all four varieties, you can taste the nut most distinctly in this one.

The most sophisticated of the four

Of the four coated varieties, this is the one most likely to belong on an evening table. Where the white and caramel ones taste like an afternoon snack, this one is suited to a later hour.

It is also the one where you are most likely to stick to a small amount. The cocoa sets a natural limit that a sweet coating doesn't have – after five pieces, you've had enough, and that isn't a matter of willpower.

Those who chop them and sprinkle them over a green salad with pear and blue cheese will have an autumn salad that needs no extra dressing.

The dark chocolate takes the sharpness out of the Pecorino

They are made for a strong espresso, and in the evening, a glass of Barolo Chinato stands up to them well. Coarsely chopped over vanilla ice cream, they add crunch, and they are a great companion to mature Pecorino – the dark chocolate takes the sharpness out of the cheese.

They are great as a snack with red wine anyway, and for anyone who needs something sweet in the evening but doesn't want anything sugary, three or four pieces will satisfy.

You can find more specialties from Tastelanghe made with the same hazelnuts in our shop – hazelnuts in milk chocolate for something milder, dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts as a bar, or other nuts from our assortment.