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Make your own truffle oil


Magictofu

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Sorry, what I meant was: where can I order a small quantity of  2,4-Dithiapentane from, in the US?

Fat Guy,

Sigma Aldrich carries it. It is just named diffrently, that why you had a hard time finding it. It is even Kosher!

Link

It seems that thier sample quantity is back order though.

BTW, as a chemist, I coudn't agree more with just about all what MaxH said. Reminds me of the "Beware of dihydrogen oxyde" joke... everyone knows this is a very dangerous compound, it is even the primary componant of cancerous tumours! It just seems that systematic molecular names looks scary to some people... unfortunatly, each and evry, molecule has a systematic name and they all look equaly scary to the uninitiated.

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It just seems that systematic molecular names looks scary to some people... unfortunatly, each and evry, molecule has a systematic name and they all look equaly scary to the uninitiated.

Pielle, Hello...

We are not all as uninitiated as you might think. At no time did I suggest that any of these things would be "bad for us" or that they should "frighten" us. What I did ask is precisely why we want some of these ingredients in our system when their sum total winds up as a second-rate imitation of the real thing.

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BTW, as a chemist, I coudn't agree more with just about all what MaxH said.  Reminds me of the "Beware of dihydrogen oxyde" joke... It just seems that systematic molecular names looks scary to some people... unfortunatly, each and evry, molecule has a systematic name and they all look equaly scary to the uninitiated.

Thanks Pielle. I am not a chemist, though have some university chemistry training; more to the point, I run into many technical issues in current events.

It's amazing to compare the notions among people who resist foods with "chemicals" in them to the very chemicals in those same persons, expressed in the same language. Fearsome names: Acetylcholinesterase! Adenosine Triphosphate!

I wonder how such anxieties would react, if confronted with their own "ingredients lists" so to speak. A bit like people who'll only stay on a hotel's 13th floor if it's renamed the 14th. The importance of names!

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...  What I did ask is precisely why we want some of these ingredients in our system when their sum total winds up as a second-rate imitation of the real thing.

As opposed to getting them into our system when we eat the real thing?

That list of chemicals was the composition of real truffle aroma, most likely obtained by gas chromatography.

I even have a reference this time:

10 principaux arômes de la truffe Tuber melanosporum (d'après Talou). (The ten principal aromas of Tuber Melansporum/Black winter truffle) « Truffes et trufficulture » De J.M. Olivier ; P. Sourzat ; J.C. Savignac. Editions Fanlac, 2002.

dimethylsulfure 7,5%

acetaldéhyde 4,5%

2-méthylpropanal 5%

2-méthylbutanal 4%

ethanol 27%

2-méthyl1propanol 21%

2-méthyl1butanal 17%

acétone 8%

2-butanone 2,5%

1 propanol 2%

Lots of scary stuff in real truffle.... I bet a list of aromas in red wine would look even scarier.

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Pielle, Hello...

We are not all as uninitiated as you might think.  At no time did I suggest that any of these things would be "bad for us" or that they should "frighten" us.  What I did ask is precisely why we want some of these ingredients in our system when their sum total winds up as a second-rate imitation of the real thing.

As to acetone - also known as dimethyl formaldehyde, the main uses are in nail polishy remover and in the preservation of parts of dead bodies - that too is a quite deadly poison and would make either snuffling for or dining on truffles a rather dangerous experience.

? ?

I did not mean to offend you and my first post was not directly directed at you, I wanted it much more general.

As it was said many times, the given list is what was found in real truffles. A similar quantity of a laboratory mixed equivalant would not be more or less toxic then real truffle aroma beaucause it would be the same thing. Actualy, the real truffle aroma contains much more compounds in small quantities and would potentialy be more toxic then the laboratory mixed equivalent. The is no such thing as a diffrence between a molecule procuced in a lab and a molecule produced by biological metabolism. If it is the same molecule, it is the same thing, same toxicity. Nature produces more rafined and complexe mixtures that we will probably ever be able to produce but it will also produce some of the most virulent poisons all by itself (think botulinium toxin).

As of acetone, your body produces small quantites of it as part of it's metabolism, it seems truffles also do so. Also, acetone is not generaly used to preserve body parts, formol (formaldeyde) is. Acetone is used in the plastination process but it is removed by the end of the process.

A solution of potassium chloride is used as the "killing injection" in lethal injection procedures. That does not make it a less essential compound to bodily functions.

MaxH : Yes, the importance of names! Always reminds me of how nuclear magnetic resonance imagery got the nuclear removed from it in its common name (MRI) even though this technique has absolutely nothing to do with nuclear reactions and nuclear energy...

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HA! HA!  :biggrin:

I found what seems to be a Norh American supplier!

http://www.promofood.com/pricelist/NonPeri...s/Truffles.html

Anyone ever bought anything from them? If shipping is not too expensive, I think I'll try my luck at ordering their extract.

I think that purports to be real truffle extracts. Probably isn't, if I understood the pricing correctly.

There is a lot of falsification going on in "real" truffle products, like chinese truffles (only distantly related to the real stuff) sold as real black truffles. Tastes like cardboard.

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I think that purports to be real truffle extracts. Probably isn't, if I understood the pricing correctly.

There is a lot of falsification going on in "real" truffle products, like chinese truffles (only distantly related to the real stuff) sold as real black truffles. Tastes like cardboard.

I don't believe it is real truffle extract either. I once compared true black truffles with the chinese ones... very little in common but the shape and color. I'd rather use artificial flavoring ;-).

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Actualy, the real truffle aroma contains much more compounds in small quantities ... Nature produces more rafined and complexe mixtures that we will probably ever be able to produce

That by itself is a profound point, worth emphasis and not to be undervalued IMO. I remember (to give only one example) the publicity several (20?) years ago when it became known that synthetic "Vitamin E," though duplicating the natural molecule exactly, lacked the biological efficacy of the mixture of related materials (congeners) occurring in natural sources. That case, which is not unusual, is maybe even trivial compared to the complexities of scent and flavor chemistry. Another case that I've mentioned before in print: "Residual sugar" in wines does not accurately predict perceived sweetness; even if we separate out the fact that sweetness itself is hard to taste objectively in context of other flavor factors, wines and other fruit products also entail cornucopiae of organic molecules some of which (the sweet "sugar alcohols" or polyols) are not sugars at all, but are so sweet to the taste that they underlie the entire sugarless gum and candy industry.

Always reminds me of how nuclear magnetic resonance imagery got the nuclear removed from it in its common name (MRI) even though this technique has absolutely nothing to do with nuclear reactions and nuclear energy...

Touché. When I was in university, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was honored for its new medical benefits. That it had to be renamed "MRI" for image reasons teaches the importance of style vs. substance. The method itself did not change. And I had an influential food guru who eschewed microwave ovens (which rely, essentially, on radio waves), not because of their cooking properties but because of "radiation" ...

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  • 6 years later...

I was wondering if any of you ever tried using these extracts to make truffle oil. If so, how was the result?

Any luck with other kinds of aromas?

How natural/chemical does it feel?

How difficult is it to get such products in North America?

 I hadn't heard of this prior to reading your post. Thanks for that, as I am really happy I checked it out!

 

"Any luck with other kinds of aromas?"

 

I did a search and ended up at http://www.trufflearoma.com/. For some reason, it seems cheaper than most and the amounts were in US measurements, which made it easier for me. I purchased a small vial and had it shipped to me. Following their simple steps, I just put a few drops in a quart of olive oil, let it sit for a week or so, and I have been throwing it on EVERYTHING ever since!

 

"How natural/chemical does it feel?"

 

I have never had the opportunity to eat real truffles yet in my life, thus why this was so intriguing to me. To my untrained palate, I can't compare, but I seriously love the oil and have been using it on all sorts of food. It just give it a little extra "kick" that makes me want more!

 

"How difficult is it to get such products in North America?"

 

http://www.trufflearoma.com/ appears to be in the US as they have US measurement system.

 

Again, thanks so much for bringing this to our table. My family loves it!

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  • 7 months later...

I truly do not mean to be argumentative but there are huge (I am tempted to use the word humongous) differences between things that are found in nature and those that are produced in the laboratory.

Ethanol is, of course, grain alcohol which is found in most alcoholic beverages but when taken in too high portions can be poisonous. I sincerely doubt that any truffle ever found on this planet or any other had a 27% alcohol content. If so that might explain why truffle-snuffers (primarily pigs and beagles) so love snuffling for truffles.

As to acetone - also known as dimethyl formaldehyde, the main uses are in nail polishy remover and in the preservation of parts of dead bodies - that too is a quite deadly poison and would make either snuffling for or dining on truffles a rather dangerous experience.

As to what we "can" do and what we "want" to do with regard to foods that enter and become parts of our bodies may I respectfully suggest a glance at my little artice at http://www.stratsplace.com/rogov/gastronomes_nightmare.html

 

Actually, Daniel, there are no differences between compounds, such as ethanol, produced in a laboratory and those produced in nature. There may be some differences in impurities of the reaction, which is why ethanol made from petroleum distillates is illegal to sell for human consumption in the United States, but the ethanol itself is only different in radioactivity (ethanol is radioactive if made from plant matter, and isn't radioactive if made from petrol. Radioactive is actually good in this case because it is used to protect people, and the radioactivity of ethanol doesn't harm anyone).

 

Secondly, I think you made the honest mistake of misinterpretting the aroma percentages as being translatable to the actual composition of the truffle. The main reason this can't be done is that aroma is dictated by volatility, which means how readily a compound enters the gaseous phase. Ethanol does this exceedingly easily, so even if it was present in very small quantities in the truffle (which it is), it would show up as a major component in the aroma signature, which is due to the gases let off by a substance. So 27% of the aroma profile is taken up by something that's 0.5% of the mushroom. Hilariously enough, if a compound can't enter the gas phase or somehow ineract with the receptors in your nose, you most likely won't "taste" it. Some key exceptions being capsacin (spicy) and salts.

 

Secondary point: Most of the compounds listed would absolutely destroy your engine. Ethanol, currently being used in large engines to smooth the combustion, destroys small engines. Every other compound listed would probably eventually destroy even large engines (they would result in uncontrollable explosions due to the presence of intramolecular oxygen atoms, as opposed to the controlled explosions that occur in the engine in your car).

 

This leads me to my final point: If you don't understand the chemistry, trust the people who do. Facts overwhelm gut reactions. Skepticism is, of course, a hallmark of scientific endeavors, so please, everyone who reads this, take the time to learn some of the basic chemistry here. Volatility is an easy concept. Do some learning before being afraid of weird names of compounds. All compounds have scary names, even the ones that are good for you.

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Thank you for the update. If there was a simple edit button next to my post, I would edit it to be a more generalized post. Instead I shall post that I am sorry to hear this and that my post should have began as:

"Actually, for those who are concerned about chemicals made synthetically vs. "naturally","

 

These leads me to another point I forgot in my previous message, so thank you again AAQuesada! Naturally made chemicals are still made through organic synthesis.

 

EDIT: I see the edit button for this post, but not my other one. I suppose there is a time limit on edits, which is reasonable.

Edited by TurnipEntropy (log)
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No problem! I don't have a dog in this fight :) I remember him from here and a coffee group, I'm sure he'd be happy to know that his statements were still causing trouble lol!

 

I care only about deliciousness and most truffle oil made in the more manufactured way is very one note and not great. IMO it's not that it is un-natural, just not good. I do have a particular truffle oil that I like that is perhaps the exception to the rule. I think if you are going to bother making truffle oil try it with real truffle, the risk/reward seems better than trying to make something that companies with an R&D department access to other flavorings can most likely do better than you. 

 

just my .02c

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