The local supermarket Nutella tasted like sugar. It's difficult to have tried the best and settle for the mediocre. The obvious first move was to arrange a blind taste test that would pit the real deal against the readily available supermarket version (which is made in Canada). Heck, I've even heard it said that Barilla pasta tastes better in Italy (they claim it's because of the water). The ingredients listed on the jars are practically identical: sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk), lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin: an artificial flavor. But then we see it: The front of the jar, in big letters, proclaims that it contains 97 hazelnuts. The sole difference is that the Italian version lists two percentages: hazelnuts (13%) and milk (5%) while the American version keeps mum. Cadbury chocolate, Fage Greek yogurt, and Coca-Cola all taste different when imbibed overseas or simply below the border. Though they looked identical on the spoon, the Italian version had a thicker mouth feel and the supermarket version left a slight film on the tongue. It could just seem to have more intense flavor because it lingers on the palate longer. I was both relieved and saddened to find that without any identifying markers, I could easily tell which spoonful of spread was the Italian version. Moreover, four friends could also accurately tell the difference, noting that one "tasted like sugar" and the other "like hazelnuts."
– If you ever visit gourmet grocers or Italian markets, you've probably seen it: Imported Nutella, straight from Italy, sold in a glass jar at multiple times the price of the Canadian-made stuff found in most US supermarkets. And perhaps you've wondered: Is it really any different? Many devotees insist that it is—a blind taste test at Serious Eats, for example, found that the discrepancy was immediately obvious, with the North American variety tasting "like sugar," and the Italian one tasting "like hazelnuts." Jim Webster at the Washington Post wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, so he sat down with two jars and Italian pastry guru Alex Levin. The story details their epic quest to break down all the tangible and intangibles of both Nutellas. Turns out the ingredients are identical—equal amounts of sugar, hazelnuts, protein, total fat, and more. Both are more than half sugar and thus sweet. The only difference they could suss out was that the North American version, using "palm oil," boasts that it has no trans fat, while the Italian version, made with "vegetable oil," doesn't mention trans fats. The imported has a firmer texture and "sticks to your mouth a little more," perhaps providing at least the sense of a more intense flavor by lingering on the palate longer. "We can't, and don't claim to have solved anything," Webster writes, but they theorize that the FDA's trans fat rules necessitated a change in recipe. After all that, Webster says he's still a Nutella fan and will keep a jar ("probably domestic") in the pantry. But Levin whipped up a homemade batch in minutes, and that's going into the rotation.