Is Vanoise (white and milk chocolate) Better Than Nutella?

 This is a special edition of Better Than Nutella because we're looking at two spreads instead of one. Normally I would split these two spreads up, but I feel like it's important to actually compare these two spreads instead of looking at them independently. Both are made by the same company and even have the same name Vanoise. The difference however is in the chocolate.

If I was to look at the Ma Creme A Tartiner (milk chocolate) Vanoise spread, I would describe it as average to below average. The chocolate flavour is there, but it's kind of weak. The hazelnut flavour is just weird, it almost tastes like a chemical version of hazelnuts instead of the real thing. I'm not saying that they faked the hazelnuts, I'm just saying that something in this mixture made it taste really fake and strange.

Honestly I wasn't a big fan of this stuff, and I probably wouldn't get it again. This spread alone would be a very short edition of Better Than Nutella because it's just not great and nothing really that special. If it wasn't for the companion version of this spread that's so different this article would be over.

I've tasted a few spreads out there in the world including cookies and cream, regular cream and most of all milk chocolate. I can't say however that I've ever tried a hazelnut spread with milk chocolate like this Vanoise Ma Creme Noisette White (strange how they use one English word in the name). I've been doing this series comparing various spreads to Nutella for a few years now so maybe I've forgotten, but I'm frankly surprised that this white chocolate variation doesn't come up more often.

More importantly, it works, and in this case works really well. I can't figure out why, but the hazelnut flavour of this version of the Vanoise spread doesn't have that chemical like flavour that the milk chocolate version does. It tastes of real hazelnuts and it works so very well with the white chocolate. It's a nice blend of smooth milk chocolate and toasted hazelnuts. A good hazelnut will often have a nice toasted flavour, and while milk chocolate certainly doesn't smooth that out, white chocolate seems to smooth it out in a different and also pleasant way. I'm not sure if this white chocolate spread is better than Nutella, but it's truly something different and well worth giving a try.

In fact, I feel like the folks at Nutella should maybe think about making some variant versions of their spread too. I've tried a few spreads with additions that are obvious and work really well. This white chocolate version is a great example of a version of a hazelnut spread that I'm surprised I haven't seen more often, particularly from the folks at Nutella.