On Sunday I watched a story on 60 Minutes about the most expensive food in the world– truffles. They talked about how European white truffles can sell for up to $3,600 per pound. Due to the increasing scarcity of European truffles and inflated prices, a black market has emerged around the truffle trade.
People love truffles. They are considered the ultimate foodie’s treat. Restaurants pay exorbitant amounts to stock them. A few shavings to top your meal can cost hundreds of dollars in France. They’re said to possess aphrodisiac qualities. Here in the U.S., food lovers are willing to spend $150 on a gourmet “truffle burger.”
Quite honestly? I don’t get it.
I didn’t even know what a truffle was until about 10 years ago. If somebody said the word truffle, I thought of a rich chocolate bonbon, not a fungus. It wasn’t until after college, when I ate at my first “super fancy restaurant,” that I learned what all the fuss is about. I saw the price of a truffle pasta dish and nearly choked on my breadstick. These rare mushrooms are worth their weight in gold.
I just can’t seem to jump on the bandwagon. I’ve tried truffles a few times, mostly at gourmet tasting events when my husband’s not around. He can’t stand the smell of them, so I never order them when we go out. He’s not a picky eater by any means, but truffles are on his “yuck” list, so I usually avoid them on his behalf. They’re super expensive, and I don’t particularly love them, so it’s no big loss on my part. Though it may shock many “gourmands” to read this, I’m not a big fan. They have an interesting flavor, but if somebody told me I’d have to spend the rest of my life without a taste of truffle, I’d be just fine with that.
And yet, many food lovers swear about the intoxicating, flavorful power of the truffle. Just what is it about this mushroom that excites so many, and makes them willing to pay through the nose for a taste? I’m sure my friend Erika Kerekes will weigh in– she hosts a popular annual event called Trufflepalooza, where every dish (even dessert!) is made with truffles.
Watch this video from 60 Minutes and let me know what you think. Are truffles really worth all this fuss? Have you tried them? Maybe I’m in the minority here. How do you feel about truffles?
i’m with you… nice but not crazy-making. Give me a plate full of fried cauliflower anyday. I think they taste like that as well. quite frankly, if my pigs dig up truffles, they can eat them – they earned it.
I love this story about truffles and agree with you.
Truffles are like carvier, uni (sea urchins ovary) or kopi luwak coffee.
It is the matter of personal taste. The fact truffles being very rare
and so very expensive is the ground for the fuss – the fuss about
the flavor, the aroma and the razzmatazz. Imagine one can have truffles
everyday at every meal, would it be as pricey and appreciated as it is?
I tried truffles for the first time yesterday. I thought I would enjoy it as I’m quite open to food experiences, but surprisingly I hated it.
Yes, even the desert had truffles and I couldn’t finish it, and I never reject deserts.
So now I’m looking for similar experiences on google to find out if I’m the only one out there.
I wanted to like it, but I couldn’t.
I can understand your comments. I generally hate mushrooms and other fungus, however I have to say a really fantastic meal from an incredible chef such as Phillipe Mouchele or Alex Drobyz or Andy Harmer or one of the top chefs, and i can tell you Truffles really really top the dish! They lift the flavours and give it a stronger scent, its a complimentary ingredient. I admit on their own they have a strong somewhat pungent odour, but again, taste is subjective. I cant stand mushrooms. Truffles I love! I bought some from https://www.thetrufflequeen.com and I have used them in dishes myself and i can tell you they really enhance whats on the plate. Its honestly not that expensive either, if you even out a 50g truffle over a few people for a number of dishes it works out to be the same cost as a decent bottle of wine.
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
I think truffles are very very nice… shroomy with a taste of fried cauliflower… not $$$$$$$$ worth. I love cilantro, and lots of other things, but am content to leave truffles to the dogs and pigs who do all the work finding them.
If they were cheap, I would certainly buy them, but as they aren’t… why bother?
Truffles, to me, are just another mushroom, and not $$$$$$ worthy.
They taste like a different sort of mushroom. I’m a massive mushroom lover – give me a plateful of swiss browns fried in a little butter with fresh nutmeg grated in at the end. Keep your expensive truffles. Tasty, but not swoon-worthy. Now, chocolate….vanilla…ginger…cardamom. Pound for pound, I would pay far more for any of those as they are much more useful and flavourful.
Give me garlic, or give me death! (But not a truffle. If someone gifted me one, I would sell it to the next sucker.)
If they were the same price as other ‘shrooms, yes, I would eat them , but as it’s not so… so what? Let the poor pigs and dogs eat them, they like them so much, and do all that work to find them.
Good on you, if you market truffles – job well done.
I’ve tasted the most expensive to the cheapest truffles over the years, had all the oils (from people trying to sway me!), but still – just a ‘shroom.
I just made and ate your recipe for cheese blintzes. It was easy to follow ,prepare and eat. They were very good. I had never had blintzes before and they are even better than regular pancakes. I had fresh strawberries and blueberries over mine. I had three left over and put them in the freezer for a quit snack later.
To Brandon, .. truffle lover here. Everything has religious fervency just as much as any other thing. Try not to insult what you do not understand.
Food is typically described in ways in which it makes a person feel. I hate mushrooms, but I do enjoy truffles. The flavor is very different and since I have avoided mushrooms with a religious ferocity all my own, enjoying truffles is rather odd to me.
The flavor is complementary to heavily flavoured foods. Steaks, bold cheeses and balanced blands. This is probably why it’s described as earthy…. The flavor is grounding to the pallet and hits the ‘unami’ flavorur sense on the tounge. Unami – also known as savory.
Depending on your region of origin, there are not many foods which corespond to unami in the flavour pallet. You can find salty in abundance ala potato chips. .sweet ala the chocolate truffles. .. bitter in terms of wine. . Spicy… fatty (newest flavour recognised as distinctive) … unami is where truffles would -in general use- fall. It’s a flavour that is lacking and found in dishes with truffle.
This translates into the ‘religious type’ descriptions you seem to be running into.
Umami, not unami.
Jesus..now I really have to try them.
That’s my favorite flavor and you describe it so beautifully. I didn’t even have a name for it.
It seems truffle lovers typically display the behavior or religious zealots. As far as I can tell, those who dislike or are ambivalent about truffles are very transparent and descriptive in their reasons, likening the taste to that of topsoil (what zealots are generously describing as “earthy” I believe), mushrooms, or other specific descriptions.
On the other hand, those who “love” them don’t attempt to pin down the flavor, but rely on describing how the taste makes them feel. Words like transcendent, bliss, heaven, delectable, etc, etc, with no real analysis on what makes them “blissful” and such. This behavior is seen when religious zealots attempt to explain god or the religious texts, typically focusing on their “personal experience” with god rather than the facts.
I am just going to write off truffles, as well as any other extremely hyped up, mediocre experience or non-existent experience as merely the fervor in the minds of the fanatics typically associated with cults and religion and call it a day.
It couldn’t have been said better. As to my description of the truffle taste; putrid puke with notes of smokey feces and garlic. It’s just plain disgusting!!! Who knows it may be one of those things where genes come into play like cilantro.
They say you’ll love them or hate them. I love them, hate them, or feel indifferent to them depending on the day. Even when making the exact recipe, somedays I don’t know how I lived without truffle flavor, and other days I can’t believe I spent so much money on this tiny little pungent bag of truffle salt.
I had my first truffle tonight and all I can say is ‘uuurrrrgh’. I was feeling like a total barbarian until I came across this page, thanks Tori :]
Ha! No worries Carol, to each his own in the great truffle debate. 🙂