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> Truffle oil is synthetic garbage used to sucker people unaware of the non-relationship between truffles and “truffle oil.” I've had real truffle oil in Croat

> Truffle oil is synthetic garbage used to sucker people unaware of the non-relationship between truffles and “truffle oil.” I've had real truffle oil in Croatia and it is absolutely divine. A far cry from the synthetic stuff, which I can now smell a mile off. The real deal is incredibly expensive, mind. I suppose I just wanted to point out that not all truffle oil is garbage, although perhaps in the US the real stuff is vanishingly rare.

jancsika 9y ago
Real or not, if you give me a quinoa salad next to some truffle oil mac & cheese, the truffle oil is going to ruin whatever you tried to get me to taste in the quinoa salad. It would be like drinking wine with a chili dog. Food isn't boolean.
carlob 9y ago
> I've had real truffle oil in Croatia and it is absolutely divine. A far cry from the synthetic stuff, which I can now smell a mile off. The real deal is incredibly expensive, mind. There is no such thing as real truffle oil: take real truffles, put them in olive oil, the olive oil is going to just coat them and not extract anything. 2,4-Dithiapentane needs to be added anyway.
notyourday 9y ago
There's no such thing as a real truffle oil. All of it is synthetic crap. In Europe they actually shave some truffles here and there on food.
- walshemj 9y ago
  Interesting a guy in the UK planted a forest a ten years ago to start production of Perigord truffles - after ten years is first harvest was 25 Truffles. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/05/welsh-landowner-grows-britains-first-crop-worlds-sought-after/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/05/welsh-landowner-...
Cthulhu_ 9y ago
I'm nowhere near an expert, but isn't the same thing true for olive oil? It's a huge market but probably also with huge differences in quality.
- xapata 9y ago
  Not the same issue. Similar in that marketing misleads the consumer. Different in that true truffle oil (without the synthetic ingredients) would not taste like truffles. Truffles are generally kept dry and then shaved onto your food, kind of like Parmesan cheese.
- arkades 9y ago
  Olive oil is oil from olives, with marketing playing up differences between brands for the sake of price stratification. Truffle Oil is olive oil with synthetic flavor and perfume added, to make people think it's somehow related to truffles. Real truffle oil isn't a thing: truffles are consumed shaved into food like a hard cheese, generally, and their flavors don't infuse oil well at all. Marketing here isn't about making some truffle oil look better than others; it plays the role of making people believe that truffle oil is a thing at all.

jancsika 9y ago

Real or not, if you give me a quinoa salad next to some truffle oil mac & cheese, the truffle oil is going to ruin whatever you tried to get me to taste in the quinoa salad. It would be like drinking wine with a chili dog. Food isn't boolean.

carlob 9y ago

> I've had real truffle oil in Croatia and it is absolutely divine. A far cry from the synthetic stuff, which I can now smell a mile off. The real deal is incredibly expensive, mind. There is no such thing as real truffle oil: take real truffles, put them in olive oil, the olive oil is going to just coat them and not extract anything. 2,4-Dithiapentane needs to be added anyway.

notyourday 9y ago

There's no such thing as a real truffle oil. All of it is synthetic crap. In Europe they actually shave some truffles here and there on food.

walshemj 9y ago
Interesting a guy in the UK planted a forest a ten years ago to start production of Perigord truffles - after ten years is first harvest was 25 Truffles. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/05/welsh-landowner-grows-britains-first-crop-worlds-sought-after/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/05/welsh-landowner-...

Cthulhu_ 9y ago

I'm nowhere near an expert, but isn't the same thing true for olive oil? It's a huge market but probably also with huge differences in quality.

xapata 9y ago
Not the same issue. Similar in that marketing misleads the consumer. Different in that true truffle oil (without the synthetic ingredients) would not taste like truffles. Truffles are generally kept dry and then shaved onto your food, kind of like Parmesan cheese.
arkades 9y ago
Olive oil is oil from olives, with marketing playing up differences between brands for the sake of price stratification. Truffle Oil is olive oil with synthetic flavor and perfume added, to make people think it's somehow related to truffles. Real truffle oil isn't a thing: truffles are consumed shaved into food like a hard cheese, generally, and their flavors don't infuse oil well at all. Marketing here isn't about making some truffle oil look better than others; it plays the role of making people believe that truffle oil is a thing at all.