Nutella

WORLD War II and Napoleon are partly responsible for Britain's love of Nutella, and there's a fascinating story behind the spread's creation.

It turns out hazelnuts weren't added to chocolate spread because it tastes delicious, even though it does, but out of necessity during wartime rationing.

Way back in 1806, Napoleon tried to freeze out British businesses to strengthen his position in the war between Britain and France, leading to a disastrous Europe-wide blockade which caused the cost of chocolate to skyrocket.

Determined not to be defeated, resourceful choclatiers in Turin, northern Italy, started adding chopped hazelnuts to chocolate - to spread the supply.

A delicious spread called 'gianduja' was created as a result of this.

Fast forward another 100 years, and the price of chocolate was hiked yet again because of World War II rations.

Italian pastry chef Pietro Ferrero once again turned to hazelnuts - and created a sweet treat called Pasta Gianduja in 1946.

Pietro was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time - his home town is Alba, Piedmont, an area known for its production of hazelnuts.

He initially marketed a solid block of hazelnut chocolate and then created a creamy version, known as 'Supercrema', in 1951.

This was then renamed 'Nutella' by Pietro's son Michele in 1964 - with 'ella' meaning 'sweet' in Latin.

Michele used the English word for nut as a marketing tool to boost Nutella's popularity throughout Europe.

And his plan worked - by 2015, one jar of Nutella was sold every 2.5 seconds. That's a hell of a lot of chocolate spread.

By the time of his death, at the age of 89, Michele was Italy's richest man.

While the Ferrero group, which is now run by Michele's son Giovanni, have sales of more than £5.9 billion every year.

"He was completely obsessed by it... he woke up my grandmother at midnight - she was sleeping - and he made her taste it with spoons, asking, 'How was it?' and 'What do you think?'"