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Ferrero Rocher

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Ferrero Rocher
Product typeBonbon
OwnerFerrero SpA
CountryItaly
Introduced1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Websiteferrerorocher.it

Ferrero Rocher (Italian pronunciation: [ferˈrɛːro roʃˈʃe]) is a chocolate and hazelnut confectionery, introduced in 1979 and produced by the Italian company Ferrero. Michele Ferrero is credited as the product's creator.

Each Ferrero Rocher ball is covered in foil and placed into a paper liner. The confection is machine made and much of its production process is designed to be secretive.[1]

It is sold worldwide and holds a strong cultural presence, in part because of its association with Christmas. The brand is known in the United Kingdom, and other countries such as Mexico, by the popular 1990s 'ambassadors' advertisement.[2]

History

Ferrero Rocher was introduced in 1979 in Italy and in other parts of Europe in 1982. Shortly after its release, production was halted due to a problem with label printing.[3] Michele Ferrero, the credited inventor, named the chocolate after a grotto in the Roman Catholic shrine of Lourdes, Rocher de Massabielle.[4] Rocher comes from French and means rock or boulder.[5]

Layer by layer comparison of the Ferrero Rocher

Ingredients

The chocolate consists of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut chocolate and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.[6] Its ingredients are milk chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, skim milk powder, butteroil, lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin (artificial flavor), hazelnuts, palm oil, wheat flour, whey (milk), low fat cocoa powder, sodium bicarbonate (leavening agent), and salt.[7]

Production

Box of Ferrero Rocher bonbons

The production process is secretive, with no smartphones or notebooks allowed inside the production facilities. As of 2015, few journalists have ever been invited to visit.[8] As of 2015, the production in the Alba factory totals 24 million Ferrero Rochers a day.[8]

The sweet is produced by machinery. The process begins with flat sheets of wafer with hemispheres moving down an assembly line.[9] The hemispheres of the wafers are then filled with a chocolate hazelnut cream and part of a hazelnut. Next, two of these wafer sheets, one with a hazelnut and one with hazelnut chocolate cream, are clamped together. The excess wafer is cut away producing wafer balls. These balls are then coated with a layer of chocolate, a layer of chopped hazelnuts, and a final layer of milk chocolate[9] before the chocolate ball is wrapped in its prominent gold foil.[3]

Distribution

Roughly 3.6 billion Ferrero Rochers are sold each year in over 42 countries.[unreliable source?][10] These include 28 countries in Europe including the UK, eight countries in Asia, five countries in Africa including South Africa, nine countries in the Americas, and two countries in Oceania.[11]

Child labour

The hazelnuts inside millions of Ferrero Rocher chocolates may have been picked by children working in farms in Turkey, according to human rights campaigners.[12][13] Ferrero states that is working to address the issue through its Ferrero Hazelnut company and a partnership in Turkey with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).[14]

Cultural impact

Ferrero Rochers in 24-pack boxes being sold during the Christmas Season

Christmas

Ferrero Rochers are associated with the holiday season during Christmas and New Year. As of 2015, 61% of Ferrero Rochers were sold within the last three months of the year.[8]

1990s UK advertisement

A United Kingdom advertisement in the 1990s was based upon a party in a European ambassador's official residence and has been repeatedly parodied in popular culture since.[15] In 2000, the ambassador's party commercial was ranked 21st in Channel 4's poll of the "100 Greatest Adverts".[16]

Ferrero was one of the top scorers (fifth of thirty-eight companies) on the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard which ranks chocolate manufacturers, producers and traders according to traceability and transparency, living income for cocoa farmers, child labour (absence of), deforestation & climate, agroforestry and agrochemical management.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Nutella Billionaires: Inside The Secretive Ferrero Family". Forbes. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  2. ^ "The most memorable TV adverts of the past 40 years". The Telegraph. 7 June 2016. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b Allen, Lawrence L. (1 January 2010). Chocolate Fortunes: The Battle for the Hearts, Minds, and Wallets of China's Consumers. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. ISBN 9780814414323.
  4. ^ Caldwell, Zelda (8 May 2018). "How Ferrero Rocher chocolates were inspired by the Virgin Mary". Aleteia.
  5. ^ "rocher - traduction - Dictionnaire Français-Anglais". WordReference.com.
  6. ^ "A Brilliant Idea …". Ferrero Rocher. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  7. ^ "Ferrero Rocher". ferrero.ca. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Sarah Butler (30 October 2015). "Full steam ahead at Ferrero factory as chocolatier eyes No 1 spot in UK". The Guardian.
  9. ^ a b [dead link]"Loynds Ferrero Rocher Type Production Line". Loynds. 29 December 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ Iyoob, Umar. "Report on Ferrero (Rocher)". Scribd. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Ferrero - Worldwide". Ferrero. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  12. ^ Tondo, Lorenzo (19 December 2019). "Ferrero Rocher chocolates may be tainted by child labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  13. ^ Ankel, Sophia; Derwin, Jack (24 September 2019). "Nutella is under pressure after a new investigation alleges that the hazelnut spread could be a product of Turkish child labor". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  14. ^ www.ferrerohazelnutcompany.com. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. ^ Wood, Zoe (17 November 2009). "Family behind Ferrero Rocher linked to deal with Cadbury". The Guardian. London.
  16. ^ "The 100 Greatest TV Ads". London: Channel 4. 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  17. ^ www.chocolatescorecard.com. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
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