Creme Praliné à la Villa Meererbusch. Our homemade nougat cream!

What does nougat have to do with world domination?

A great deal indeed. Nougat, this wonderful sweet, which consists essentially of hazelnuts or almonds with cocoa and sugar, is in fact the result of a bitter war between England and France over this very world domination. Strictly speaking, Napoleon Bonaparte was concerned not least with the world’s trade supremacy. And with the fierce customs wars that went along with it, he wanted to “crush” English free trade to dust.

Nougat actually is the result of a shortage, namely the shortage of cocoa. The fine melting delicacy is ultimately due to the fact, that in 1806 it was hardly possible to legally obtain cocoa beans in Piedmont, Italy, which was a “stronghold” of chocolate production at the time. Napoleon Bonaparte, in his role as King of Italy, also prohibited the import of goods from England here, and imposed immense customs duties on such products. Of course, the so-called “colonial goods” were also affected. Thus 50 kg of cocoa beans, related to today’s conditions, did cost about 400 euro customs duties.

And the Turin chocolatiers were very inventive here to replace the much too expensive cocoa for their chocolates. In fact, they “stretched” the expensive chocolate with roasted and then ground almonds or hazelnuts, and certainly did not suspect at first that they had invented a completely new aromatic specialty with this trick: Nougat!

Creme Praliné à la Villa Meererbusch. Homemade nougat cream for breakfast

Nougat cream is probably a classic among the sweet spreads, and also very popular with our breakfast guests. Of course, such a product should not be missing from our breakfast buffet. But it should already be a very special delicacy for our guests. We just didn’t want the classic “standard”, such as, for example, the product of a world-famous Italian manufacturer that has probably been one of the classics on the breakfast table for more than 50 years. Instead, we wanted something special, individually homemade and incredibly tasty.

We actually experimented together with a patissier for a long time, tried out countless recipes, discarded them, modified them and developed them further. As it should be, the final recipe naturally remains a secret. But you can be sure of one thing: the high-quality ingredients are, wherever possible, largely from controlled organic production or at least FairTrade.

Palm oil doesn’t get on the table.

And palm oil doesn’t get onto our buffet, nor into our spread.

Palm oil-free is in any case better for the environment. For the cultivation of oil palms, rainforests are cleared, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. And this means that an entire habitat is lost. For plants, animals and people. And today, already rare animals such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers or forest elephants are dying out. By the way, Utopia.de has collected some facts worth reading about palm oil free chocolate creams. The calming conclusion: There are real chocolate spread alternatives out there: palm oil-free, also vegan, Fair Trade and always delicious.

Cream Praliné à la Villa Meererbusch. Some fine treat, portioned and served in small jars, with a piece of dark chocolate and a hint of fine cocoa. It does not only look very appetizing, it also tastes really very delicious! Not only on a piece of toast or a wheat bun.

Cream Praliné à la Villa Meererbusch. Enjoy our breakfast!