Marco Colzani - Piedmont Chocolate Hazelnut Cream (260g)

Marco Colzani's chocolate hazelnut cream is built from Piedmont Hazelnuts IGP - Tonda Gentile delle Langhe hazelnuts grown in Cravanzana, in the Alta Langa hills of the Cuneo province - alongside sugar and cocoa powder. The hazelnuts make up 50% of the finished cream, a ratio well above what most mass-market hazelnut spreads use, where the nut content is typically closer to 10-15% and the rest is sugar, vegetable oil, and emulsifiers.

Ingredients: Piedmont hazelnuts IGP (50%), sugar, cocoa powder. Three ingredients, no vegetable oil, palm oil, emulsifiers, or added colouring.

Tonda Gentile delle Langhe is widely regarded as one of the finest hazelnut varieties in Italy - rounder and more aromatic than most, and the variety of choice for the region's serious confectioners. Colzani's version uses no additives, no colourants, and no emulsifiers, which is a meaningful departure from the industrial hazelnut-cocoa spread most people grew up on - it's a shorter ingredient list doing more of the actual flavour work.

The result tastes distinctly of roasted hazelnut first, with cocoa as a supporting note rather than the dominant one - closer to a hazelnut praline than a chocolate spread, with a texture that's rich but not cloying.

Best for: Spreading on brioche or toast, filling crepes and pastries, swirling into yogurt, or eating straight off the spoon.