Ferrero Rocher
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox brand Ferrero Rocher (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, Template:IPA; stylized in all caps) is a brand of chocolate and hazelnut confection manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. Created by Michele Ferrero in 1979, each Ferrero Rocher ball is covered in foil and placed into a paper liner. The confection is machine-made and much of its production process is kept secret.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is sold worldwide and is particularly associated with Christmas.<ref name="guardian15" />
History
Ferrero Rocher was introduced in 1979 in Italy and in other parts of Europe in 1982. Michele Ferrero, the credited inventor, named the chocolate after a grotto in the Roman Catholic shrine of Lourdes, Template:Ill.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rocher comes from French and means 'rock' or 'boulder'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ingredients
The chocolate consists of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut chocolate and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> Its ingredients are milk chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, skim milk powder, butteroil, lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin (artificial flavor), hazelnuts, palm oil, wheat flour, whey (milk), low fat cocoa powder, sodium bicarbonate (leavening agent), and salt.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Production
The production process is a secret, and no smartphones or notebooks are allowed inside the production facilities. As of 2015, few journalists have ever been invited to visit.<ref name="guardian15">Template:Cite news</ref> As of 2015, the production in the Alba factory totals 24 million Ferrero Rochers a day.<ref name="guardian15" />
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The mechanised production process begins with flat sheets of wafer with hemispheres moving down an assembly line.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The hemispheres of the wafers are then filled with a chocolate hazelnut cream. Next, two of these wafer sheets—one with a hazelnut and one with hazelnut chocolate creme—are clamped together. The excess wafer is cut away, producing wafer balls. These are then coated with a layer of chocolate, a layer of chopped hazelnuts, and a final layer of milk chocolate<ref name=":0" /> before the chocolate ball is wrapped in gold-coloured foil.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
Cultural impact
Christmas
Ferrero Rochers are associated with the holiday season during Christmas and New Year. As of 2015, 62% of Ferrero Rochers were sold within the last three months of the year.<ref name="guardian15" />
1990s advertisement
The brand is known in the United Kingdom, and other countries such as Mexico, by the popular 1990s "ambassadors" advertisement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was based upon a party in a European ambassador's official residence, with the chocolates arranged into a pyramid and portrayed as a sophisticated treat. The advertisement has been repeatedly parodied in popular culture since.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, the ambassador's party commercial was ranked 21st in Channel 4's poll of "The 100 Greatest TV Ads".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Immigrant communities
Ferrero Rocher is popular among immigrant communities in the United States due to its relatively low price compared with other luxury goods, along with its upscale appearance and marketing. Before Ferrero Rocher was available in mainland China, it was a popular gift from people in Hong Kong, who nicknamed Rocher "gold sand", to people on the mainland around Chinese New Year.<ref name="thrillist-2018-04">Template:Cite news</ref>
Knockoffs and counterfeits
In 2017, police made several arrests and seized 300,000 pieces of counterfeit Rocher which had been produced in a factory in Wuhu.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ferrero had spent USD $1 million and five years fighting Chinese firm Montresor, whose "Tresor Dore" chocolates were priced at one-third of the cost of the genuine Rocher; an April 2008 court ruling had previously ordered Montresor to cease production.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>