Header hazelnuts

hazelnuts. Roasted at the very last moment.

It’s one of the ingredients that have become the symbol of Kinder’s excellence. For the preparation of some of our most loved products like Kinder Bueno & Kinder Schoko-bons, we start from whole hazelnuts, roasted at the very last moment to retain their flavor inside our recipes.

Where they grow

The majority of our hazelnuts come from Turkey, in the Black Sea area, and Italy. We only buy whole fresh hazelnuts from the last available crop that is harvested between August and September.

To ensure the quality and freshness of our hazelnuts throughout the year, we have been extending our expertise to hazelnut cultivation in new regions of the world, such as Chile and Australia that give us an additional harvest in the southern hemisphere.

Hazelnuts Part 1

Experts in roasting hazelnuts to enhance their flavour.

Hazelnuts part 2
Over the years we have developed a deep expertise not only in selecting but also in processing hazelnuts in order to guarantee that we capture all their taste and aroma in our products.

When the whole, raw, shelled and calibrated hazelnuts arrive into our factories, we carry out quality checks to make sure that all selected hazelnuts meet our strict standards before we start the roasting process. And every day the experts in our laboratories carry out tests to assess their aroma, taste and texture for every stage of the process.

We process & roast 100% of the hazelnuts we use ourselves. This way we can guarantee the best aroma and freshness; we finely roast them and then grind them next to the production lines, right before we mix them together with other ingredients.
Hazelnuts part 2

In each plant we have a "master roaster", who defines the parameters of the roaster depending on the origin of the hazelnuts, their moisture and size, in order to take out as much of the fragrance as possible.

We roast the hazelnuts in batches of the same calibre to ensure better sensory uniformity and we adopt lower temperatures and slower timings. Even if it involves an increased investment in machinery, these techniques give us the best roasting for our recipes.

The race for 100% traceability

Hazelnuts part 3

The traceability of the hazelnut supply chain allows us to follow the flow of hazelnuts in the producing stages, trace their origins back to the producers. This way we can have a clear picture of the location of the hazelnut orchards, the production of farmers from which we source them and the main problems that they face, in order to better understand the technical support they need.

Our goal is to reach 100% traceability of the hazelnuts we use in our recipes by 2020, aiming to ensure that all our suppliers comply with national legislation, the main international standards and the Ferrero code of business conduct.

To help us achieve this, we have established a traceability system with SCS, a leading certification firm, to verify suppliers’ compliance using unannounced audits during harvesting time.

Hazelnuts part 3