The Write Ingredients

AwesomeIngredients: Truffles

A teammate and I were driving to Duluth this weekend and we got to talking about Truffles. Not the tasty bites of chocolate, but the ugly, earthy fungus that make savory dishes taste orgasmic. I've tasted truffle oil at various restaurants over the years, but last fall at the now closed Willi's wine bar, we were introduced to the ethereal combination of green apple, spanish mahon and truffle oil. Wow. We recreated it at Thankgsiving and a often as we could after that. In honor of this Thanksgiving, and the fact that the little bottle will probably appear again, I did some research on truffles.

Truffles are highly prized as food. Wikipedia says they have the smell of sunflower seeds or walnuts, but all I can really smell is earth. Kinda like a very intense mushroom smell. The two most common kinds of truffles are Black and White. The black sell for about $400 per pound, while the white can go for as much as $2,000 per pound. Most are found in France and Italy. There is also truffle oil available (way cheaper). And now that I've done research, really, really disappointing. This is what I found:

Contrary to popular belief, and even the belief of most restaurant chefs, the New York Times recently reported that most truffle oil does not, in fact, contain any truffles. The reality is that the vast majority of truffle oil is actually olive oil containing a synthetic flavoring agent, called "2,4-dithiapentane." Indeed, Daniel Patterson reported in the New York Times on May 16, 2007 that "[e]ven now, you will find chefs who are surprised to hear that truffle oil does not actually come from real truffles." Nevertheless, many chefs continue to use synthetic truffle oil, which is inexpensive, because they consider it to be "a reasonable substitute."

But I'm not ready to believe it. We read the ingredients on our bottle of Urbani Truffle oil, and it didn't say anything about a synthetic additive, just "truffle aroma."

I've seen truffle oil and truffle salt at my favorite local deli, Surdyks. As for the real thing, I've only seen them online. Here are a few links to check prices or splurge.

At GourmetFoodStore.com.
http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/truffles/french-truffles.asp

Dean and Deluca:
http://www.deandeluca.com/caviar-foie-gras-charcuterie/truffles-and-mushrooms.aspx

SurLaTable:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/o+%26+co.+black+truffle+oil.do?search=basic&keyword=truffle&sortby=gsa&asc=true&page=1