One of the world’s most desired natural resources is facing a major shortage. It’s not oil, it’s hazelnuts. Harvests have been severely damaged this year by unseasonable weather and disease, so if you see long lines at your local grocery store, it might be people trying to get their hands on the last jars of Nutella before prices surge.

Turkey produces over 70 percent of the world’s hazelnuts, but has been plagued by hailstorms and frosts, pushing the price of hazelnuts up to the highest it’s been in 10 years. With Ferrero, Nutella’s parent company, using 25 percent of the world’s hazelnut supplies and putting over 50 hazelnuts in each jar, don’t be surprised if the shortage requires you to dish out a bit more for that chocolaty, gooey goodness. (But perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for those of you who take your Nutella addiction too far.)

“Inclement weather last spring in Turkey has impacted this year’s hazelnut harvest,” a Ferrero USA spokesperson confirmed in an email to The Huffington Post. “We are tracking this issue closely and there’s no foreseeable impact on the availability of Nutella.”

To keep the stream of chocolate, hazelnuts and deliciousness flowing straight into your mouth, Ferrero has shored up its supply of hazelnuts by purchasing the Turkish hazelnut supplier, the Oltan Group. A press release from Ferrero calls the Oltan Group “the worldwide leading operator in the procurement, processing and marketing of hazelnuts.”

Nutella isn’t healthy, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the most popular chocolate products in the United States. Nutella now accounts for over 70 percent of the sales of chocolate spreads in the U.S., with sales up 5.9 percent in 2013. Across the world last year, Nutella sold $2.46 billion worth of the spread.

Ferrero is also attempting to mitigate the environmental cost of Nutella by ensuring the palm oil they use is responsibly harvested. The company is seeking to use palm oil that does not hurt endangered species or contribute to deforestation, and claims that currently, 90 percent of its palm oil is traceable to responsible plantations.

Before you go scrambling to find a cheaper spread for your morning toast, let’s count the ways we love Nutella. Oh Nutella, we wish we knew how to quit you.

In honor of Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen turning 6, I’ve decided to revisit a few fan-favorite recipes. On Monday, I reposted the number one most popular recipe on my blog: Mashed Potatoes from Scratch.

But you can’t just eat mashed potatoes (well, you can, but they’re better as a side). So here’s one of my favorite dishes to serve with my mashed potatoes: Crispy Roast Chicken and Gravy.

This is one of the meals I regularly make for my family. The truth is, not only is it a family favorite because it’s absolutely delicious, but also because it’s so easy.

Honestly, I can’t understand two things: 1) why anyone would want to eat a piece of chicken that doesn’t have crispy skin surrounding it and 2) why anyone would make it seem so hard. Roast Chicken with Crispy Skin is one of the simplest, easiest things that can ever be made. You only really need three things: an oven, a whole organic chicken with skin, and a roasting pan that can go from oven to stovetop (for the gravy!). I have a stainless steel roasting pan, but you can also use a cast-iron pan. You’ll also need a bit of flour, water, and salt for the gravy. But that’s it! Nothing more. No fussing!

Chicken with Crispy Skin

Ingredients:

• 1 organic chicken

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place chicken in the roasting pan breast-side up (don’t laugh, someone in my house did put the chicken breast-side down once, and it was a serious error in crispy skin-ness!).
3. Bake for about an hour or two, depending on the size of the chicken. DO NOT BASTE!
4. How can you tell if it’s done? Well, the leg will be a little jiggly and easy to pull on, the juices will run clear if it happens to be stabbed with a fork, and the skin looks good and crispy!

And now for the gravy…

Gravy

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup flour
• ¾ cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Remove chicken from pan and place on a serving dish (make sure to tilt the chicken as you move it so all the juices from inside pour out into the pan).
2. Place pan on stovetop and turn the burner heat to high.
3. Mix together flour and water and stir until smooth. Then add mixture to the drippings.
4. Scrape the pan and stir until gravy is thick, about a minute.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Two Tips:

1. After you’re done eating the chicken, the carcass makes a great chicken broth base. Just put the carcass in a saucepan, cover it with water, add salt, and boil for an hour or two; then strain. You now have homemade broth–which tastes better than anything store-bought–and you’ve gotten it for “free.”
2. My favorite leftovers? Take a good crusty piece of whole wheat bread and toast it. Then microwave some of the leftover chicken pieces and gravy and pour over the toast. DEVOUR.

For more from Maria Rodale, visit www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com

It’s not easy to name a sausage company. The chances of bad puns and innuendos, as you might imagine, are pretty high. So when husband-wife team Scott McIntosh and Ana Marin first launched their sausage company  three years ago, they named it 13th Street Meats after the street where they live. Dodge City, American Ice Company, Boundary Stone, and others all carried their […]

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Zentan chef Jennifer Nguyen has parted ways with the Donovan House’s Japanese restaurant. Nguyen took over the kitchen in the spring of 2013 after celebrity chef Susur Lee, who opened the restaurant, split with Zentan. Jacque Riley, publicist for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, sent Y&H the following statement: Chef Jennifer Nguyen has left Zentan to pursue other […]

It can happen fast. One minute, you’re indulging in a small piece of chocolate; the next, you’re surrounded by empty candy wrappers — and still craving more. The cycle of unhealthy eating can be a vicious one, but registered dietician Rebecca Scritchfield says there’s a simple way to stop it before it gets out of hand.

Speaking with #OWNSHOW about unhealthy eating habits, Scritchfield points to one particular ingredient that tends to enhance rather than satisfy our cravings: sugar.

“Sugar actually lights up the pleasure and reward center of our brain, the same way if someone’s giving you a smile or a mother-and-child bond, even falling in love,” Scritchfield explains in the above video. “So, it makes perfect sense [that] when we eat sugar, we want more of it.”

Your initial craving for sugar, she says, begins when you start to feel stressed. “When we’re stressed out, we have a high level of a hormone called cortisol, and we crave sugar because if we eat some sugar, we will actually get another hormone called serotonin, which is calming and relaxing,” Scritchfield says. “It’s just our body’s way of taking a chill pill.”

But what about artificial sugar? Does it satisfy or just make you crave the real thing? Scritchfield says the jury’s still out.

“In some studies, they’re showing, look, if you eat foods with artificial sweeteners, you’re expecting to get sugar, [and] when you don’t get it, you’re not satisfied, so you just want more,” she says. “But then other researchers refute that… I think it’s more of a personal preference.”

As for her own personal preference, Scritchfield opts for the real thing. “I’m all for regular sugar,” she says with a smile. “But in moderation.”

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