How I stop my Nutella from going dry?

August 12, 2007 11:06 PM

How I stop my Nutella from going dry?

Nutella from a newly opened jar is very smooth and easy to spread, but within a few days of the jar being opened the Nutella starts to become dry and difficult to spread. Can I prevent this from happening?

posted by hAndrew to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

You can keep a jar around for more than a day? You're not eating it fast enough!

Seriously, though, are you keeping it in the refrigerator, or are you storing it at room temperature?
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:14 PM on August 12, 2007

I've never had this problem - I leave it in the closet though, not in the fridge.
posted by mdonley at 11:19 PM on August 12, 2007

Advice from a nutella fiend from the age of 6:

Never keep it in the fridge.

I live in a very dry cold area, and if I keep nutella in the pantry it never goes hard.

Some bits will always go hard. Namely, the bits near the top of the jar, the bits you "wiped" back into the jar off the knife after spreading your toast because licking the knife didn't seem to be an option.

Always lick the knife.
And the hard bits are extra yummy by the way. Just break em off and crunch into them like super fudgey candy.

Mmmmmm.
I know I didn't really answer the question, but eating the hard bits I thought would be a great yummy solution anyways.

Off to have a spoonful right now as a healthy snack.
posted by miz brown at 12:03 AM on August 13, 2007

Is this some sort of test?
posted by Gungho at 4:19 AM on August 13, 2007

That's weird; I've kept many jars of Nutella aruond for way longer than a few days and have never had that happen. Maybe try pressing a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the Nutella before you close the jar. That will help prevent air from getting to it and drying it out. And yes, if you're keeping it in the fridge, stop. It doesn't need to be refrigerated. I keep mine on a pantry shelf.
posted by boomchicka at 4:20 AM on August 13, 2007

You know that round flat thing you have to unscrew to get into the jar? Don't throw it away. Screw it back on when you're done.
posted by flabdablet at 4:23 AM on August 13, 2007 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Clarifications:
I keep it at room temperature in a fairly warm apartment.
I screw the lid back on when I'm done with it.

I'd never thought of the hard bits as a snack of their own, but that's a good idea miz brown.

Does anyone know of a way to rescue Nutella that's become a bit hard / dried out? Something like "nuke it for 10 seconds" or "add some boiling water"?

Time to go try the taste of these crunchy bits!
posted by hAndrew at 5:27 AM on August 13, 2007

Before you put it back in the pantry add a small bit of peanut oil to the surface area of the product inside the jar. You could use a pastry brush to coat the surface. The oil is tasteless but will provide a barrier to keep the product from drying out prematurely. You might want to look at the expiration date of the jar in question. It seems odd that this would dry out as you have described unless you are storing somewhere that it is exposed to direct sunlight.
posted by bkeene12 at 6:27 AM on August 13, 2007

I wonder if there's a crack in the jar. We keep ours in the cupboard and have never had any issues with it drying out.
posted by advicepig at 7:15 AM on August 13, 2007

I wonder if there's a crack in the jar. We keep ours in the cupboard and have never had any issues with it drying out.

This is probably the culprit.


God I love nutella.
posted by voltairemodern at 7:19 AM on August 13, 2007

Take a bit of plastic wrap and press it down onto the surface of the Nutella, covering it completely. This will seal-out air contact, hopefully preventing drying.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:20 AM on August 13, 2007

I'm just going to join the chorus of people who can't imagine having Nutella long enough for it to get dry. Are you human?

In all seriousness, at one point I had a jar of Nutella at my boyfriend's place (long distance, so while I ate the Nutella in 3 days, those days were spread out over months) and it never got hard. I think you must not be closing it tightly enough.
posted by crinklebat at 8:15 AM on August 13, 2007

Strange, I've never had my Nutella go hard, but it did end up getting a sort of stale taste after a while when I used to keep it in the cupboard.
Now I keep it in the fridge and it seems fine--not stale and not hard.
posted by exceptinsects at 11:42 AM on August 13, 2007

Does anyone know of a way to rescue Nutella that's become a bit hard / dried out? Something like "nuke it for 10 seconds" or "add some boiling water"?

Whatever you do, do not add boiling water. Nutella is made from sugar and oil with a bit of other stuff. Adding water will not do anything other than ruin it. If you decide to try bkeene's suggestion, use hazelnut oil, not peanut. Peanut oil tastes quite strongly of peanuts, and is not a flavor in Nutella. Nuking bits of it at a time might be an option; I wouldn't nuke the entire jar each time because eventually the flavor might change.

I'm thinking your lid is flawed in some way- I've never had Nutella dry out either. You could take out the hard bits, stir it up well and put it in a new glass jelly jar.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:02 PM on August 13, 2007

I don't think you're crazy, hAndrew. It seems like as we get to the bottom of the jar, sometimes the oil starts to separate from the chocolatey goodness. I'll open it up and see a little puddle of shininess from the fat and the Nutella itself will be stiff. I just figured that's what happens, like when real peanut butter separates. You just gotta grab a spoon and stir the two back together.
posted by web-goddess at 5:38 PM on August 13, 2007

try nuking it at 30% power for about 45 secs. ymmv.
posted by troubleon14thst at 11:03 PM on August 13, 2007

Hmm oneirodynia- Oddly enough, before making my suggestion, I looked at the ingredients and guess what the second one is... "Peanut Oil".
posted by bkeene12 at 8:06 PM on August 14, 2007

Hmm... it's been years since I've had Nutella- it used to be palm oil and hazelnut oil only. I still think peanut oil would not be good but... it's obviously a bit different now. My bad.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:45 PM on August 15, 2007