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What Is Truffle Oil?
What Is Truffle Oil?
Have you always wanted to know more about truffle oil but didn’t know where to start? Today’s your lucky day.
Keep reading and we’ll teach you all about truffle oil. Plus, we’ll share some incredible tips on how to cook using truffle oil for decadent flavor without all the work.
What Are Truffles?
For those keen on cooking with truffles alone, note that they’re typically higher in price than truffle products like truffle oils or sauces. This is due to the rarity of raw truffles and how much effort they are to obtain.
Usually, raw truffles are sought out by trained truffle-hunters –- aka animals with a strong sense of smell that can sniff out truffles underground, especially pigs and certain dog breeds.
Storing raw truffles is a bit more meticulous than storing truffle products. For starters, truffles have a shelf life of approximately one to two weeks and tend to lose their ideal freshness after about five days. They also taste best when preserved at room temperature, so if you’re looking to obtain some fresh truffles, ensure you care for them well.
How Else Can You Eat Truffles?
There are several easy alternatives to raw truffles that carry those same rich flavors. These alternatives come in the form of truffle products like truffle-based sauces, truffle butter, and our personal favorite (and probably the most commonly used truffle product): truffle oil.
if you want to save time and spare yourself the truffle-hunting, high-quality truffle oil is a great alternative for cooking with truffle flavors at home.
What Is Truffle Oil?
Looking to create that delicious umami truffle flavor in your dishes without the hassle? Use truffle oil!
It’s simple, versatile, and great for home cooks who love the taste of truffle and are looking for a simple way to achieve this flavor. With a shelf life of eight months and possibly even longer, it’s hard not to love.
Truffle oil is perfect for easy home cooking and serves as a great topping for a variety of dishes, ranging from steaks to any type of pasta. Truffle oils also have the same aromas of fresh truffles.
How Is Truffle Oil Made?
Delicious, high-quality truffle oil comes in many forms. It’s usually made by infusing extra virgin olive oil and either real truffles or a chemical alternative to create the flavor and essence.
Synthetic Truffle Oil
For synthetically made truffle oil, the chemical alternative most commonly used is the compound 2,4-dithiapentane. It’s used in truffle oil recipes by being mixed with olive oil, mimicking real truffles by emulating a similar aroma and taste.
While synthetic truffle oil can create a similar truffle flavor to the real thing, some people may long for truffle oil that uses real truffles as the main ingredient. For those of us that desire a natural truffle oil, there are plenty of options.
Natural Truffle Oil
Natural truffle oils that use actual truffles are made by infusing raw truffles into olive oil. Though this process is most likely more time-consuming than it is to synthetically create truffle oil, many prefer knowing their truffle taste is coming straight from a natural source.
For those interested in real truffle oil, we recommend our Black Truffle Oil. Our recipe uses real truffles and olive oil to emulate the taste. Plus, it’s all gluten-free and vegan!
When cooking with natural truffle oil it’s important to recognize that the type of truffle your oil uses and infuses with olive oil can make a difference in the taste of the oil itself. Let’s look into some of the different types of truffle oil so you can make an educated decision on what will best suit your cooking at any given time.
White Truffle Oil
White truffle oil is made using white truffles, often specifically the Alba truffle, native to Italy. This Italian truffle differentiates itself by being one of the rarest and most expensive species of truffles in the world — with that in mind, it’s quite reasonably priced in the form of truffle oil.
In terms of flavor, white truffle oil stands out from other truffles with its lighter, slightly peppery, and garlicky taste. Because of this, when using white truffle oil in dishes, don’t be afraid to add a little more — there’s no limit on indulgence.
Black Truffle Oil
Often referred to as the black diamond of the kitchen, black truffles’ French origin means they’re also sometimes referred to as Périgord truffles. They are frequently used in dishes as a light, simple topping or garnish due to their strong flavor.
When it comes to black truffle oil, the black truffle’s flavor definitely maintains that strength. Distinguishing itself from its cousin white truffle oil, black truffle oil has a deep and robust umami flavor.
Cooking With Truffle Oils
Different truffle oil complement different foods. In general, black truffle oil is well suited for meats and other dishes with stronger flavors like rich tomato-based sauces. Meanwhile, white truffle oil pairs well with lighter foods like plain pasta, potatoes, or eggs.
So, here are our recommendations for those looking to cook dishes with truffle oils.
Cooking With White Truffle Oil
White truffle oil would be great for something like French fries. Drizzle some on with a hefty amount of parmesan cheese to create truffle fries. Even just a touch of white truffle oil as a finishing oil on top of mashed potatoes would be light and decadent.
White truffle oil can also work well with risotto or any type of light, airy pasta dish.
Cooking With Black Truffle Oil
Black truffle oil has such a robust flavor that it generally works well with deeper, more flavorful ingredients. In addition to pairing well with meats, it goes well in a salad dressing, a tomato-based sauce, mayo, or even hot sauce (luckily TRUFF makes most of these). Because of that deep flavor, black truffle oil can add a new kick to a homemade vinaigrette and would complement strongly flavored greens like arugula well.
That being said, it’s fun and entirely fine to mix and match some of these truffle oil flavors with unexpected dishes. For instance, these potatoes au gratin use our black truffle oil.
The World Is Your Truffle
We won’t limit you on your truffle oil explorations, so feel free to try truffle oil on whatever you think works best. Just don’t use truffle oil as a cooking oil — it tends to drain truffle flavor, which isn’t what you want.
The flavor of truffles goes a long way, whether it’s white or black truffles in oil or fresh truffles, so use your power wisely.
Truffle oils are a great way to season, spice up, and elevate your kitchen explorations. You’ve got tons of ways to use truffle oils as a topping, ingredient, or however else you want. Any way you choose, TRUFF has got you covered with indulgent, delicious truffle oil.
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