Truffles are delicacies in the culinary world. Because they are difficult to find, they are an exclusive product. Beautiful truffle products are made from these, such as truffle puree or truffle oil. But what exactly is a truffle? What makes this product so valuable? And how is real truffle oil made? We explain it to you in this blog.
The truffle
A truffle is a fungus that nests between the roots of trees. These can be oaks, poplars or hazelnut bushes, for example.
Fungi or mushrooms need other trees or plants to grow. So do truffles. Through its fungus threads, the truffle ensures that the tree or plant can easily extract water and nutrients from the soil. In return, the truffle uses important organic substances from the tree or plant.
Great range of truffles
There are 200 species of truffles in the world. Only 5 of them are edible and used in cooking. Umbria and southwestern France are the most famous areas for finding truffles.
Hunting truffles
During the year, truffle hunters head out with their dogs to search for harvest-ripe truffles. As a hunter, you must be authorized to search in a certain area. Many hunters keep their areas secret so that others do not run off with the best truffles. This is partly why they search at night. In addition, truffles smell stronger at night than during the day, making them easier to find. Hunting is a labor-intensive business.
Hunters used to use pigs to track truffles. These animals love the fungus themselves and ate them. In addition, they dig through the ground with their snouts, which can damage the fungal network. For these reasons, hunters nowadays use dogs. These dogs are trained and trained from an early age.
Truffle trade
Because the output of hunting depends on several factors, the size of the harvest varies at any given time. This creates a wide variation in price.
The white truffle is the most expensive variety. This is because relatively few of them grow and can only be harvested between October and December. The high demand for the product and the labor that must be put into finding it makes this the most expensive truffle variety.
Summer truffles, on the other hand, are better priced. This is because there are relatively many of them during the harvest season.
Differences in truffle oil
Many suppliers offer various truffle products in addition to the fungus. Examples include truffle puree or truffle oil.
At Squiby Foods, we work with Fortunati and Urbani Tartufi. They make truffle oil by immersing the truffle in olive oil for a certain time. In the process, the fungus releases its aromas to the extra virgin olive oil.
Because a truffle is a natural product, its quality and flavor intensity cannot be determined in advance. Therefore, making good truffle oil requires true craftsmanship.
In the seasons when the taste of truffles does not meet the requirements of our suppliers, they use naturally extracted aroma from truffles. Using these aromas, they are able to deliver the quality they stand for.
These naturally extracted flavors from truffles are completely different from the flavors frequently used within the market. These synthetic flavors are often obtained from a chemical byproduct of petroleum refining or through fermentation of herbs, mushrooms and the tree roots from which truffles grow. Hence, there is no truffle involved here and is therefore not comparable to our suppliers’ products.
Want to know more about this beautiful product or are you curious about the truffles and truffle products in our range? Please contact Robert Lesmeister here. He will be happy to tell you all about this exclusive product.
