Corylus avellana
Origin: New Zealand
Family: Betulaceae
Part used: Nut
A beloved nut with a history stretching back thousands of years, hazelnuts have been cherished since ancient times as both food and medicine. Archaeological finds show evidence of hazelnut consumption as far back as 7,000 BC. In mythology, the hazel tree was often associated with wisdom, inspiration, and protection.
Most hazelnuts used in New Zealand chocolate come from Canterbury. Ours come from the Waikato.
We source our certified organic hazelnuts from a mother and daughter operation in the Waikato who grow, harvest and sell their nuts with the kind of care and attention that you simply don't find in commercial supply chains. They attend local farmers markets, they know their trees, and their nuts have a distinctive freshness and fragrance that we noticed immediately.
We are quietly obsessed with them.
How we use them
We buy in raw certified organic hazelnuts and roast them to a deep golden brown to unlock their fullest flavour. Each nut is then hand de-skinned to avoid bitterness before being placed into our stone melanger, where they are slowly ground into a smooth, silky paste; our own hazelnut gianduja, made entirely in house.
It's a labour intensive process. But the difference in flavour is immediate and extraordinary.
Flavour notes
Sweet, nutty and earthy with warm roasted undertones. When ground into gianduja the texture is creamy, silky and deeply indulgent. Our Waikato hazelnuts have a freshness that sets them apart, a brightness that keeps the flavour from becoming heavy.
Where you'll find them
Plum & Hazelnut Bonbon (Gold, Outstanding Food Producers 2025) Hazelnuts ground for 8 hours with a pinch of Opito Bay salt, then blended with our chosen chocolate into a silky gianduja that balances nutty richness with the tart sweetness of plum.
Coffee Hazelnut Bonbon Organic coffee and hazelnut; two ingredients that were made for each other. Ground together in the melanger, the result is a deep, roasted gianduja with extraordinary complexity.
Dark Roast Coffee Bonbon (Bronze, NZ Vegan Chocolate Awards 2026) Our vegan bonbon that proves no compromise is needed. Roasted hazelnut paired with single origin coffee, the judges called it "perfectly roasted hazelnut paired beautifully in rich coffee."
Coffee Hazelnut Dark Tablet The clean, direct expression of coffee and hazelnut in single origin dark chocolate. Simple, considered, and deeply satisfying.
Roasted Hazelnut Milk Tablet Our Waikato hazelnuts in their purest form, nestled in creamy 48% milk chocolate. Nothing extraneous. Everything delicious.
Hazelnut Hot Chocolate Bomb Silky hazelnut gianduja inside our 45% Bolivian milk chocolate shell. Drop it into hot milk and let it bloom. The gianduja melts slowly into the milk, creating something that is more like a liquid dessert than a drink.
Pretty Fancy Chocolate is made in small batches in our kitchen in Muriwai Beach, Auckland. We choose every ingredient with intention, because what goes in is what comes out.
Find Farmhouse Nuts at local Waikato farmers markets.