Giovanni Rana is the grandfather that all marketing students would like, the real savvy of the “large-scale retail trade” hype. 

Here is his new product 

Sweet chocolate ravioli by Giovanni Rana, a limited edition from the famous supermarket pasta factory.

The product that was first launched in 2009 (with little success), but now in the heart of a pandemic and with a charity initiative, Giovanni Rana, with these sweet ravioli with chocolate taught us to live. 

Tasting test

The sweet ravioli with chocolate that everyone talks about and of which many looks for on the supermarket shelves (the company produces an enormous variety of flavors, it is impossible to find them all, and this limited edition of the chocolate ravioli are not easy to find), are for sale and promoted by a very pumped campaign, at the sort-of-steep price of 3.99 euros.

The solidarity project 

The initiative sprang from this particular pandemic-historical period. In the spring of 2020, half of Italian families suffered a sharp reduction in income, which in some cases even reached 50%. A figure that, together with those provided by the Banco Alimentare (Food Bank), has sensitized the company to take action with an initiative to support the people in difficulty.

Giovanni Rana has therefore decided to relaunch the sweet chocolate ravioli in a limited edition version, on the shelves from 26 October to 28 February 2021. For each package purchased, Pastificio Rana will donate two fresh Giovanni Rana products to Banco Alimentare, a charitable company. 

In short, a win win situation. Very nice, but are they also good?

To read the ingredients list I would say that there has been a lot of study on the recipe.

Ingredients

Filling 55%: cocoa and hazelnut cream 35% (sugar, sunflower oil, cocoa butter, hazelnuts 13%, low-fat cocoa powder 7.5%, whey powder, lactose, natural vanilla flavor), ricotta (whey, milk, cream, salt), 7% Piedmont PGI hazelnut grains, whey powder, skimmed milk powder, 5% chocolate chips, (cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter , soy lecithin, vanilla extract), vegetable fibers (contain wheat), powdered sugar (sugar, corn starch), starches, low-fat cocoa powder 0.7%, salt.

Pasta 45%: soft wheat flour, 20% egg, durum wheat semolina, water, 2.5% low-fat cocoa powder.

There are two ways to prepare them

In the pan 

These ravioli can be placed on compotes of red fruits or oranges, or flambé them with Rhum, Cointreau, or Cognac. 

I limited myself to strictly follow the instructions on the back label: butter, sugar and water in which to simmer the ravioli for about 6 minutes. The thickness of the pasta keeps well during cooking, the ravioli cooks (in 6 minutes) and maintaining a certain bite.

It is the filling that convinces me, there is hazelnut cream with an airy and light consistency thanks to the presence of ricotta. The tenacity of the pasta (be careful not to overcook them) is enough by itself to create that alternation of textures that so pleases the palate.

Fried 

Hhmm, the appearance is not very inviting, but oh yes: the fried version is luscious. The dough sublimates the typical consistency and becomes a super crunchy and airy caslling, with hints of cocoa, which here becomes more evident, playing hide and seek with the filling, a cloud with Nutella references. 

Nothing else is needed, it’s all there

If the pan-fried version needs some sensory reinforcement (a dollop of cream would be my choice), to become delightful, the fried one is enough in itself. 

Besides, we didn’t need any marketing work to discover that everyone likes hot Nutella in a fried carbohydrate.

Promoted! and just in time for Valentine.