Fats and oils
Always present in the kitchen, their careful and skillful combination is one of the secrets of the extraordinary variety of taste experiences of our treats.
Kinder selection
One of the secrets to the taste and texture that make our products delicious and different from one another, is in the constant study that goes into finding the right balance among fats that are naturally present in our ingredients, like milk, cocoa and hazelnuts, and the ones we expertly add.
Our experts carefully study this equilibrium when creating our recipes and investigate the best way to combine the various properties of different fats to make our fillings extra creamy for some products, or to create crisp and crunchy products or to create products that are especially spongy and soft.
These careful combinations are also effective in blending our ingredients and their flavours together and so create the taste we are looking for. The delicate touch of a fat can enhance the taste of other ingredients, making the whole experience more refined for our palate. The goal behind all this patient work is simple: achieving that perfect harmony between texture and taste, that is so dear to those who love our recipes.
Shea butter
Shea butter is processed from shea nuts and is used to enhance the taste and consistency in our products.
The Butyrospermum Parkii, or shea tree, grows wild in the Sahel region of West Africa. The kernels are boiled, shelled and dried by the local population. Once dried, they grind them and extract the fat to transform it in shea oil and butter. This precious raw material is used in the food industry and, in smaller quantities, in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.
The Shea tree grows slowly. It only starts producing fruits after 15 years and sometimes lives more than 300 years. It does not require irrigation or agronomic techniques and it is not only a precious source of income for local communities, but also contributes to slowing down the desertification of the sub-Saharan area.
In 2018, Ferrero became a member of the Global Shea Alliance (GSA), whose mission is to design, develop and run strategies that promote a competitive and sustainable shea industry worldwide, and to improve the livelihoods of rural African women and their communities.
In Kinder we use shea in Kinder Happy Hippo, and in Kinder Joy to give the products the right texture and consistency.
Sunflower oil
Sunflower oil is extracted from the seeds of the Helianthus annus, better known as sunflower, native of American continent and now largely widespread around the world. The oil extracted from sunflowers seeds is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic and linoleic.
In Kinder we use a variety of sunflower oil, rich in oleic acid, which is very stable and does not interfere with the other ingredients’ aromas, and therefore is particularly suitable to ensure the unique Kinder taste of our recipes.
The products that use sunflower oil are Kinder Bueno White, Kinder Joy and Kinder Happy Hippo.
Hydrogenated fats
Hydrogenated fats are produced at industrial scale using a chemical process called "hydrogenation". Unfortunately, this process can modify the structure of some fatty acids into "trans fatty acids", which scientific literature has shown to produce the effect of raising levels of "bad cholesterol" in the blood.
This is the reason why, at Kinder, we do not use any industrial produced trans fats. Small traces can be found naturally in milk fat but, according to independent third-party experts, such small amounts are unlikely to have a negative effect on health.
