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Lorrain
Bodger, twentieth century American writer called truffles as
the royalty of homemade candy.
Truffles are a delicate and rare type of edible mushroom,
which are mostly grown in Croatia, France, Italy and
Slovenia. They are also |
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collected in Washington
and Oregon states in US. Forming a symbiotic relationship with the
environment, truffles grow underground
among the roots of chestnut, elm, oak, pine and willows
trees. The high price for truffles is due to the inability
for humankind to grow them commercially or cost-effectively.
When in season, whole black winter truffles made from fresh
black Italian truffles are chef’s favorites. It gives an
excellent aroma to dishes made of
poultry, meat and in pasta.
The season for fresh winter truffles runs from Thanksgiving
to March. Because of its limited availability, this
perishable item costs around USD 125 per Oz.
A buttery and creamy sauce can be made by fusing Italian
truffles with the finest cheese from the Parmesan region.
Cannelini Beans with White Summer Truffles is another
delicacy made with five percent of white Italian truffle
juice, white beans and water. |
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A more cost
efficient way to give the dishes that special flavor that
only truffle can offer is to use truffle juice by combining
it with main courses and appetizers. By adding truffle juice
the dishes become brilliant in seconds.
Fresh truffles are a highly seasonal and rare product,
expensive and hard to acquire. Fortunately, the intensity
and pungency of the earthy truffle paste makes a great match
to any number of bases such as butters, pastes and creams,
which enables the chefs to add to their cuisine the distinct
taste of truffles at a more economical cost price. Truffle
paste on a peanut oil base makes a good start to creams and
sauces. Find more info at www.trufflecity.info
Perigord black truffles of France are considered as the
greatest truffles of the world. Rich butter made from French
white truffle can fuse the intense and complex flavors of
the French truffles perfectly. This butter can be added to
any variety of dishes to transform it from an average food
to an extraordinary one. Being very intense, only little of
this butter is needed to add to other dishes. It can replace
the use of regular butter too. To get best results, truffle
butter should be added at the end of the cooking process.
Chocolate truffles comprise of a gooey sweet centre, coated
in cocoa powder or chocolate, usually in a curved or
spherical shape. They can have extremely varied fillings and
may contain melted chocolate, cream, nuts, caramel, berries,
almonds or other assorted sweet fruits, fudge, nougat or
mint, toffee, mint, marshmallow, or chocolate chips. Even
though they do not actually contain any truffle, they are so
named because of their appearance.
Looking for truffles in
open ground is almost always carried out
with specially trained
pigs (truffle
hogs) or, more recently,
dogs.
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Truffle
Hog |
Truffle
Dog |
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Keen sense of
smell |
Keen sense of
smell |
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Innate
ability to sniff out truffles |
Must be
trained |
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Tendency to
eat truffles once found |
Easier to
control |
The female pig's
natural truffle seeking as well as her usual
intent to eat the truffle is due to a
compound within the truffle similar to
androstenol, the sex
pheromone of boar saliva, to which the
sow is keenly attracted.
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