Recently the chef
Carlos Torres
came to our table to rallarnos before it
a black truffle (
T
.
Melanosporum
).
Its aroma was so intense that I could not contain the praise for that mushroom that, when it passed through the mandolin, slipped in very fine flakes on a casserole full of mashed potatoes.
Excited, I manifested myself in the same way again when I tasted it in the company of its superb
hare civet
.
A few minutes later at an adjoining table in the
La Buena Vida
restaurant
where I was, a diner was upset: "This truffle neither smells nor tastes," he told his table companion.
It was not the first time that, throughout this winter, in the middle of the season I witnessed similar situations.
The week before, at the
La Fonda Lironda
restaurant,
I heard the comment that was circulating aloud around a table of young people.
It came about with the leek cream with poached egg on which the chef
Hugo Muñoz
had grated
black truffle
.
For me a splendid set, for them a reason for disappointment for the same reason.
Tuber Melanosporum.
JC CAPEL
Beyond the respect that the trials in which the sense of taste and the subjectivity that accompany it come into play deserve, it is clear that we are faced with a generalized confusion.
“It has happened to me a thousand times”,
Hugo Muñoz
commented to me
when I related my experiences.
“The generic
black truffle is
confusing.
Some prefer the
synthetic truffle oils
that have plagued us for a long time.
I find it disappointing to select ripe pieces of optimal size and that my clients give me negative comments due to their lack of aroma ”.
More bluntly, as usual,
Juanjo López,
from
La Tasquita
, replied
: “
Truffles are victims of the democratization of the kitchen
.
In a world dominated by ignorance, artificial flavors prevail.
Many false truffles from
Morocco
and other places
are entering Spain
, wood shavings that are
flavored with synthetic essences
in an exercise of deception ”.
Nor could he stop talking to
Javier Acedo,
manager of
Trufas Alonso,
supplier of
El Celler de Can Roca
and numerous Spanish restaurants.
"I tell you one of the anecdotes of this Christmas" he told me.
“Among hundreds of orders we have only had setbacks with some individuals.
At the end of December a customer called me upset to tell me that his truffle neither smelled nor tasted like he expected and that he was going to return the piece already started.
A 50 gram truffle with a perfect ripeness point, as this season has gone early.
Apparently, at a tasting with friends, a cook had convinced him that it tasted like nothing.
We tried it together and I asked him right away: doesn't it taste like nuts?
I tried to explain to him that the problem was with his palate, that he identified the
real truffle
with something that is not.
That
Tuber Melanosporum
is so subtle that it neither smells nor tastes like what we sometimes have recorded in our memory due to
artificial essences.
His intransigence was such that I could not convince him.
The case is repeated frequently.
Some consumers look to
black truffles for
the flavors they have discovered in
truffle pizzas
or
fast food chain
dishes
bathed in laboratory aromas.
And when they do not recognize it, they are disappointed.
We face
an important challenge, educate the taste buds of consumers
.
The
Tuber melanosporum
neither know nor smell fungi, or mushrooms, or tubers, its aroma is unlike anything ".
Mashed potatoes with black truffle.
La Buena Vida Restaurant.
JC CAPEL
For what reason are synthetic truffle aromas that have been perverting taste for some time, not only in Spain?
Such a question led me to
Italy
in 2012 to visit the
Appenino Food
factory
, a
company where I knew in depth a situation that, except for error, has hardly changed.
Its director,
Luigi Dattilo
, described to me the way in which these aromas are achieved.
“There are two systems: 1) What we call
Identical Natural Aroma
comes from two molecules,
bismethylthiomethane
and
tartufimethyl
, present in white truffles.
As both are
also
found
in some vegetables
, we obtain them from
cabbages and artichokes
.
Good essences because our body produces the necessary enzymes to digest them.
2) What we specialists call
Purely Synthetic Aroma
derives from
formalin, a
petroleum
product
molecule
that ingested in large quantities is fatal to the human body.
It is a highly volatile molecule with an intense aroma, much cheaper, costing 30/60 euros per liter, while the
Identical Natural Aroma
fluctuates between 270/320 liters ”(2012 prices).
My article -
White truffle oil and the interests of multinationals
- is still valid after seven years.
Just when
Javier Acedo
had just created
Trufas Alonso
in 2018
, I asked him about the pernicious synthetic oils on the rise:
“
The Italians invented them
to train the dogs that are used to harvest white truffles,
which is what these essences smell like.
Look at what this jar says:
“Olio Per l´addestramento dei cani da tartufi”
.
This bottle costs 15 euros and with this amount I can "
truffle"
quite a few liters of oil.
Don't forget that truffles have
thermovolatile aromas
.
In naturally truffled products, their aroma disappears above 65ºC and below -3ºC.
That is the reason why synthetic oils are used, with flavor fixers, most derived from
formalin
.
Sadly, the nightmare spreads.
Brands of cheeses, French fries, Italian mortadelas, flavored risottos and even Iberian sausages have fallen into the temptation to perfume their products with artificial essences ”.
To complicate matters even more, in winter season
Tuber Melanosporum
coincides with three other black truffles -
T
uber brumale;
Tuber indicum and Tuber himalayensis
- most of them imported, which neither taste nor smell, especially the Asian ones, of lower price, lacking in gastronomic interest, which are used as substitutes in pure fraud.
If someone shows interest in distinguishing the real ones from the fake ones, I recommend
this article
.
Black truffles.
From left to right, 'melanosporum', 'brumale', 'indicum' and 'himalayensis'.
J. C CAPEL
An absurd situation, as well as paradoxical, to the extent that our country with 12,000 mycorrhized hectares, whose plantations continue to grow constantly,
is the world's leading producer of black truffle
(
T. Melanosporum
)
.
“More than half of the black truffles that are consumed in
France
come from
Spain
”,
Luigi Datélite
told me
at the time.
Only in Teruel is located 30% of the cultivated area of the entire planet.
However, we are victims of an obvious
taste contamination.
We have been late joining the consumption of black truffles whose characteristics we had not registered, while synthetic aromas, much cheaper, which continue to distort our perception of truffles, appeared in parallel.
What price scale are we talking about?
At the moment, at the end of the season, in full flavor and aroma,
Tuber Melanosporum
ranges between 500 and 700 euros per kilo.
Even less, according to some cooks.
Let's leave it at 500 euros.
At that cost, a 50 gram truffle would have a price of 25 euros, more than enough to illustrate four servings of mashed potatoes, fried eggs with pasta, pizzas or some game.
That is, six euros per plate, more or less.
If we replace the mushroom with a few drops of synthetic oil the cost could be reduced to considerably less, perhaps to euro cents.
Does anyone dare to predict the future?
Follow me on
Twitter: @JCCapel and on Instagram: @jccapel
Javier Acedo, from Trufas Alonso, with his dog, digging for truffles.
Javier Acedo, at the moment of discovering the truffle.
Bread toast with Iberian ham and truffle.
JC CAPEL
Bacon and truffle.
JC CAPEL
Freshly collected.
JAVIER ACEDO
Synthetic truffle aromas.
JC CAPEL
Rice pudding with 'melanosporum' truffle.
JC CAPEL
Panna cotta with black truffle.
JUANJO LÓPEZ
'Tuber Melanosporum' when cut.
JC CAPEL
Leek cream with poached egg and ham, from La Fonda Lironda.
JC CAPEL
