Truffle oil testers rarely contain real truffles

Olive oil with truffle flavor: Heavenly food or chemical brew?

Mediterranean, Asian, vegan: As varied as our diet has become in recent years, the supply of edible oils has become so diverse. Occasionally, consumers also resort to very expensive, exclusive oils, such as olive oil with a truffle flavor. However, this rarely contains real truffles, as a study showed.

Olive oil is often duped

Olive oil is one of the best oils for cooking. It is especially popular with people who are inclined to the Mediterranean diet. Consumers expect olive oil above all quality and assured origin. Unfortunately, this oil ranks high in the top 10 food scams. There is a big label fraud, experts say. So it comes, for example, to counterfeiting with other oils or varieties. Also special olive oil with truffle flavor often does not keep what it promises. As shown in a recent study, the exclusive edible oil rarely contains real truffles.

Truffle-flavored olive oil rarely contains real truffles. The German researchers have now found out. In addition, they found in some oils flavors that do not occur naturally in truffles. (Image: dream79 / fotolia.com)

Truffle oil rarely contains real truffles

According to scientists from the Goethe University and the Helmholtz Center Munich, truffle oil does not always contain truffles:

"Truffle-flavored olive oils are offered at a higher price compared to tasteless oils, but rarely contain real truffles or natural truffle flavor," the researchers write in the current issue of the journal Food Control..

In a communication, the experts report on their study.

Extremely expensive noble mushrooms

Since truffles are very rare and can be collected only a few months in winter, they are among the most expensive foods.

The white Piedmont truffle can only be found in the Carpathian Basin except in Italy and the black Périgord truffle grows only in France, Spain and Italy.

For one kilo of the noble mushrooms one pays between two thousand and five thousand euro.

Because the fungus is limited in availability and subject to strong price fluctuations, the food industry has begun to develop artificial truffle flavors. These are usually added to olive oil, pasta or certain cheeses.

Just a drop of the oil on the salad or risotto unfolds a garlic-like mushroom smell. Master chefs and truffle experts agree, however, that the artificial flavors lack the complexity of the true truffle flavor.

The truffle expert Gareth Renowden describes the artificial aroma in his book as "a kind of comic variation - bright and colorful, but ultimately wrong".

Composition of artificial truffle flavor

According to the report, junior professor Richard Splivallo, who is researching fungi at the Goethe University in biotechnology, is one of the few experts who has extensively characterized the fleeting bouquet of real white and black truffles.

That's why he was also curious about the composition of artificial truffle flavor.

Together with colleagues from the Goethe University and the Helmholtz Center in Munich, he examined a wide range of truffle oils and found that the typical smell of truffle is based on only four to six molecules.

Only enjoy in moderation

The researchers also exposed some label fraud in their investigation. Oils that supposedly contained natural truffle flavor were no more complex in analysis than flavored oils.

And oils designed to mimic the taste of black truffles contained the same flavor molecules as artificially flavored white truffle oil.

Furthermore, in some oils, scientists found flavors that are not naturally found in truffles; for example, dimethylsulfoxide, a solvent believed to have been used for its garlic-like taste reminiscent of truffles.

"According to our analysis, artificial truffle aroma is far from being as complex as the natural one. The food industry still has a long way to go before it comes to the taste of natural flavor, "says Splivallo. His recommendation: only to be enjoyed in moderation. (Ad)