Hazelnuts are the holy grail of gelato making. At some gelatarias, you can taste anything but hazelnut gelato, as they are more expensive to make. They start out then as forbidden fruit (or nuts), and one of the reasons is Nutella, the wildly popular chocolate-hazelnut spread.

Ferrero (the company that invented Nutella consumes almost a quarter of the world’s hazelnut produce to make this spread, though not all is used exclusively in Nutella. Interestingly, a plant in Brantford, Ont., supplies the North American market, so blame in on Canada the next time you want a taste of ‘nocciola.’ Nutella dates from 1946 when Pietro Ferrara, a bakery owner in Alba, a town known for hazelnuts and white truffles, sold an initial 300-kilogram (660 lb) batch of Pasta Gianduja, a hazelnut and chocolate spread. A creamier version followed in 1951; Ferraro’s son, Michele, revamped the product in 1963 and the first jar of Nutella left the factory on April 20, 1964, and was something of an instant success. They are also the basis of Frangelico liqueur.

Read more: Hazelnuts: Gelato’s Holy Grail

Harvesting and growing hazelnuts are notoriously challenging. On the coast of Turkey, the majority of the crop is grown on a relatively small, steep strip of land. Families in the area still harvest most nuts, so production is much lower than in more commercialized areas. In short, the growth and harvesting of these nuts require lots of effort and intensive labor.

They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to species. In 1995, evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 8,000 years old, was found in a midden pit on the island of Colonsay in Scotland. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned hazelnut shells. Hazelnuts have been found on other Mesolithic sites, but rarely in such quantities or concentrated in one pit. The reason why some regions know hazelnuts as filberts are entirely down to coincidence. Hazelnuts matured around St. Philibert’s day, the day of a French monk, St. Philibert of Jumieges, and over time they became known as filberts.

Another theory about the origin of the name is that the word filbert can be traced back to the German word ‘vollbart’, which is translated to mean full-beard. This happens to be a good way of describing the shell of a hazelnut, and so maybe the reason why the nut was nicknamed a filbert.

Hazelnuts contain particularly high amounts of protein, dietary fiber, vitamin E, iron, thiamin, phosphorus, manganese, and magnesium. In addition to their omega-3 content, hazelnuts are also packed with antioxidants that protect the body from oxidative stress that can contribute to hypertension. They contain high amounts of phenolic compounds, which help your heart stay healthy by reducing cholesterol and inflammation

Almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts and pecans also appear to be quite heart healthy. So are peanuts — though they are technically not a nut, but a legume, like beans. It’s best to choose unsalted or unsweetened nuts. Adding salt or sugar to nuts may cancel out their heart-healthy benefits.

Of all the gelato flavours, hazelnut is one of the deepest and most profound, and that’s because of its strangeness. Everyone knows how chocolate, strawberry or vanilla tastes; they are everyday flavours; even pistachio is more common. But the slightly bitter, slightly creamy taste of hazelnuts is different and strange. And that’s why I love it.

But making it is another matter.

As one person commented on Amazon:

“I make gelato as a hobby and hazelnut is the most elusive flavour. This hazelnut cream from Sicily cuts to the chase. Although pricey I used one third of this small jar and — fantastico— I had perfect gelato that wowed everyone who tasted it. I can’t comment on other uses but it’s perfect for gelato and has that extra refined taste so difficult to obtain outside of Italy or Sicily.”

Yes, it’s fantastic but costs $48 for only seven ounces. Certainly not for commercial production and expensive for a family operation.

Of course, I tried it, along with the equally pricey Sicilian pistachio cream. The results, not quite perfect for the hazelnut, but definitely successful for pistachio gelato. The hazelnut with the cream was easier certainly but it lacked that essential ‘woody’ and deep nut taste. Another version, with steeping the nuts in milk, was closer but as I later discovered the nuts had to be roasted in the oven for a long period of time. In Mario Batali’s recipe (a good source of gelato know-how), he says ‘be brave’ when roasting the nuts, even for 25-30 minutes. The very talented Batali, along with CBS’ Les Moonves, NBC’s Matt Lauer, film producer Harvey Weinstein, was brought down by his own hubris in the #metoo movement and deservedly so. The question then arises, does one mention them or in Batali’s case, benefit from their work. That also holds true for domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, convicted and sent to prison in an insider trading scheme. And yet both have something to offer this discussion of hazelnut gelato.