Taste The Earth

Location: Borghetto di Civita Castellana, Lazio

In other words: These hills are volcanic (read: rich soil).

Deanocciola is synonymous with wonderful things like fair trade chocolate and sugar and slow-roasted organic hazelnuts. And the delectable delight that brings these ingredients together is an Italian word we should all know: GIANDUIA. Say it together: "John-DWE-yuh." And to remember what it means, just say: "Mmmm."

The artists behind these synonyms are the DeAngelis family members, with Papa DeAngelis (Danilo) at the head. Even though hazelnuts had been growing about their family property for as long as their family has lived there, only recently have the DeAngelis' started using them. Three generations ago the family made dried fruit. Then in the 1990's Danilo (who was working in a bank at the time) decided something could be done with these delicious "Tonda Gentile Romana" heirloom hazelnuts introduced to the area by the Etruscans over 2,700 years ago.

So Danilo investigated everything he could to find out how the hazelnut's integrity and fragrance could be preserved after processing. He wanted to feature the nut as a sweet, a dessert that predominated over chocolate or sugar. First, he found a machine to roast them to their fullest flavor; built during the 1860's, it toasts nuts slowly and gently. Then he taught himself how to treat raw, dark sugar cane so that it maintained a more nutritional value than pre-processed sugar cane. In addition, he explored different combinations of raw cocoa powder from cocoa beans he processed himself with his sugar cane and hazelnuts--until he found the perfect recipe for a delicious, organic, and fairly-traded john-DWE-yuh (mmmm).

Over a decade later, Danilo, with his three children and two other employees, work to create and recreate the "mmmm" experience. Every September the nuts are harvested over a six-week period. Only the ones that have fallen from the trees are vacuumed up and placed in silos to dry for a month. Then they're brought to Danilo's facility for roasting, grinding, and combining. And every day, all six employees eat lunch together, as they did when Steve and Rachel Boss visited. They'll sup on fresh vegetables and home-made delights (like torta) before any leftovers are thrown out the window to the delight of free-ranging chickens below.

And they might take a dessert, like Danilo's favorite way to enjoy Gianduia: A slice of bread spread thick with "mmmm".

In more words: Deanocciola jars a cultivar of hazelnut older than the Roman Empire. They combine it with other raw organic ingredients that are all processed in-house. The process is slow, self-taught, and ends in an Italian spread we must all now know and respect as GIANDUIA (or a universal "Mmmm" works too).