Meaning & use
gianduja
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Meanings
noununcountable
A sweet chocolate paste made with ground hazelnuts, originally from northern Italy.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'some gianduja', not 'a gianduja' when talking about the paste in general.
Patterns
- a bar of gianduja
- gianduja spread
- made with gianduja
She spread a thin layer of gianduja on the warm toast.
The truffles are filled with gianduja and crushed nuts.
This cake uses gianduja instead of plain chocolate for a nuttier taste.
nouncountable
A small chocolate sweet or truffle filled with this hazelnut paste.
Grammar: Countable when it means one individual sweet: 'a gianduja', 'two giandujas'.
Patterns
- a box of giandujas
- eat a gianduja
He bought a box of giandujas for his mother.
She offered me a gianduja from the silver tray.
Common combinations
- gianduja chocolate
- Gianduja chocolate melts quickly, so keep it cool.
- gianduja spread
- Children love gianduja spread on fresh bread.
- a hint of gianduja
- The ice cream has a hint of gianduja.
- gianduja truffle
- Each gianduja truffle is dusted with cocoa.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hazelnut chocolate
- A plain descriptive term; gianduja is the traditional Italian name for the same idea and sounds more specialist.
- nutella
- A trademark for a well-known commercial hazelnut spread; gianduja is the general food term and is not a brand.
Word family
- gianduia noun
- An older Italian spelling of the same sweet paste.
- gianduiotto noun
- The small foil-wrapped gianduja sweet from Turin.
Commonly confused: gianduja or ganache?
gianduja vs ganache
Ganache is a smooth mixture of chocolate and cream, with no ground hazelnuts; gianduja always contains hazelnuts.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'gianduja' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Gianduja' is a food paste, so it can be folded into cream. Option 1 treats it as a drink, option 2 as a solid object, and option 3 invents a verb that does not exist.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gianduja”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.