Top Gourmet Truffles

Truffles are a favorite in almost every gourmet restaurant. With its strong flavor and rich aroma, you can’t go wrong with using gourmet truffles as an enhancer in any dish, turning it from bland to flavorful. It’s no wonder why chefs and savvy food connoisseurs love to experiment different dishes with truffles as an ingredient. Why don’t you use one in your own kitchen?

Listed here are some of the common choices of edible truffles used in gourmet delicacies.

1. Chinese Truffles

These truffles actually consist of three species with varying flavors: Tuber indicum, Tuber sinense, and Tuber himalayanse. Tuber indicum has fine white veins and brown meat, while Tuber sinense has huge ivory veins and dark brown flesh. The latter type of Chinese truffle is oily and chewy and leaves a bitter taste to the tongue. Chinese truffles have recently become a staple in a number of restaurants in the United States.

2. Italian White Truffles or Piedmont Truffles

Found in the mountains of southern Yugoslavia and central and northern Italy, Piedmont truffles grow near beech, hazelnut, oak, and poplar trees. Truffle enthusiasts regard Italian white truffles as the best truffle mushrooms next to the Perigord. However, this truffle variety costs more than its superior counterpart. Its delicately colored meat can be very brittle, as it easily breaks when you drop it on the floor. So chefs need to handle this mushroom carefully. This walnut-sized truffle quickly loses its flavor and smell after one or two weeks since harvest time. The Piedmont truffle is usually eaten raw.

3. Desert Truffles

Also known as the lightning truffle, the desert truffle produces fruit right after rainfall on the desert. This truffle type can be found in the Middle East and northern Africa.

4. French Black Truffles or Perigord Truffles

French black truffles are considered the best truffle variety, which is why it can cost as much as $1,000 per pound. When fresh, a Perigord truffle has a bluish black outer cover. And when it ages, its exterior become brownish black and emits a strong earthy aroma. This widely popular truffle is cultivated in France, Australian, America, and Spain.

5. Tuscan Truffles

Tuscan truffles look like Italian white truffle and taste like garlic. Their soft flesh has white and chocolate brown color, while their outer skin is muddy tan and chestnut-colored.

6. Oregon White Truffles

Harvested from October to February, Oregon white truffles grow in northern California, British Columbia, western Cascade mountains, and Pacific Northwest. An Oregon white truffle has a white exterior, which turns brownish orange as it ages.

7. Oregon Black Truffles

Larger and less popular than Oregon white truffles, the Oregon blacks emit a strong earthy smell when they are mature. Their exterior and interior are both dark colored. They appear like rough lumps of coal with a texture of ground almonds and moist Parmesan.

8. Oregon Brown Truffles

Cultivated in Douglas-fir forests, Oregon brown truffles have a gray meat and reddish brown outer covering. They make great gourmet truffles because of their garlic-like flavor.