The time I learned that truffle oil is almost never made from truffles

I've been cooking for over 20 years, mostly in Seattle restaurants, and I always thought truffle oil was just a cheap version of the real thing. Then last month, a food scientist came to our kitchen for a talk and dropped a bomb on me. He said that 99% of truffle oils on the market contain zero actual truffles. They use a synthetic chemical called 2,4-dithiapentane that mimics the smell. I felt like a fool because I had been using that stuff on fries and pastas for years thinking I was adding a touch of luxury. He showed us the ingredient list on a popular brand we had in our pantry, and sure enough, it just said "natural flavor." Now I only use real truffle shavings when I can get them, which is rare here. Has anyone else found out they were using fake ingredients without knowing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericp671d agoRising Star

Wait, so I've been paying $12 for fancy truffle fries at happy hour when I could just spray some chemical air freshener on my regular fries and get the same effect?

the_jason1d ago

Actually I read somewhere that the real stuff is made from actual truffle shavings soaked in oil, so it's not exactly like spraying perfume on your food. But yeah I've had some "truffle fries" that tasted more like that fake black truffle salt you can buy at the grocery store, and those are basically the same thing as what you're describing.