I'm not sure how it would degrade the quality. I was under the impression that the quick freeze would actually be better for quality than the slow freeze.

If you have the equipment, I would also be curious to know what ratio of milk, what temperature, and how much time would be needed to turn Nutella into a delicious hot chocolate.

Some preliminary quick and dirty results from Nutella quick freeze experiment with liquid nitrogen:

1) When entire package is dropped in liquid nitrogen, complete freeze takes less than 40 seconds (Complete freeze indicated by loud thump sound versus a subtle scrunch when dropped on floor)

2) When removed from nitrogen bath and placed on desk, nutella can still be removed without mess from packet after one hour with an approximate internal temperature of 43F.

3) Quick frozen and then thawed nutella has a white powder coating on its surface with no discernible difference in taste or texture. More testing needed.

4) New theory - quick freezing followed by insulation in a styrofoam jacket could allow nutella to be transported frozen from the home laboratory to the plane to allow easy mess-free product removal. XYZZY, your dream on board seat 1B nutella-sicle is almost a reality!

I imagine that it is sugar or fat bloom. The article blames it on the quick temperature change. I'm guessing the issue is the sudden relative warming of the product rather than the cooling. As long as it tastes good, I really don't care, but for the sake of appearance, it would be nice to have it come out that delicious Nutella color.

Also, when the Nutellacicle is at that 43 degree mark, how well does it retain shape and avoid melting in your fingers. Would this be a product to place in the tray while you savor it/pop it in your mouth or could you hold it in your hand?

So I'm in the brand spankin' new PC in LAS and "enjoying" a 3 hr delay on my 2pm EWR flight. Ready to tuck into some Rondele - no Rondele! No soft cheese of any kind. What's up with that?

So, as the OP of The Rondele Conspiracy, I decide to explore this stuff called Nutella. Now, I've heard about it and kinda know what it is, but it never really interested me. So the recommendations are to combine with Walkers (don't have those either in LAS) or pretzels (those they have of course).

Pretzels dipped in Nutella is quite nice, especially with the salty kick that the pretzel adds.

BUT WHERE THE HECK IS THE RONDELE!?

It's hiding out with ATL's missing Rondele.

But does ATL at least have some form of soft cheese (like all PC's are supposed to)?

has nutella arrived in IAH???
 

I haven't been to a PC in IAH since december... no nutella to be found then. Is there nutella in IAH now??? oh, please, please for the love of god, say YES!

Thank you for your excellent and very thorough description. Mess-free product removal is paramount!

I'm sorry to admit my hunger won out over running a tightly controlled experiment. It retained shape really well and didn't melt in the 10 seconds it took to go from package to mouth. Imagine cookie dough as a comparable texture. you could place it on a tray, but why waste time?