Scarcity Into Sweet: Substitute Until You Win

“It was wartime and sugar was scarce, it was sold on the black market and was very expensive. But my dad, who was a genius, found a way to extract it from molasses, a by-product of beer. He bought a centrifuge and obtained seven percent of sugar crystals from that molasses. And with that sugar and a bit of thick hazelnut paste, he invented "Pasta Gianduja," which my uncle Giovanni, who was a wholesaler who knew how to trade, began to sell throughout the Langhe. For a long time, people were short of everything, and this product smelled of hazelnuts. When the war ended, my father began to wonder why I had never been there.”

“In times when Italians have little money in their pockets, a kilogram of Pasta Gianduja is on sale for six hundred lire compared to the three thousand lire for a kilogram of chocolate. Pietro Ferrero has succeeded in his venture, giving substance to the idea that he has cultivated for years and pursued with determination: to take away from the pastry shop the reputation of being elite, reserved only for the rich or for major festivities. There needed to be a sweet treat for everyone, pleasing to every palate and within everyone's reach: it is the Pasta Gianduja, the fruit of research and patient trials, and the use of machines like that enchanted machine gun, shown by the young Michele to Beppe Fenoglio.”