SpecialtyFood.com

By Julie Besonen

foods in focus

Whether used as a sophisticated addition to menus or as a luxurious gift, truffle products are a natural fit for holiday merchandising.

Truffles, those rare and flavorful fungi, are so overpoweringly potent that a tiny amount will impart an earthy essence that transforms foods from mashed potatoes to foie gras. This taste of luxury is especially timely to promote for the upcoming holiday entertaining season. And, for those customers who shy away from cooking with the fresh ingredient—or whose budgets won’t allow a splurge on pricey whole truffles in the current economy—there are many truffle-laced specialty food products available at varying price points to help them enjoy a touch of extravagance this holiday season. The line-up includes truffle-flavored salt, cheese, butter, vinegar, salami, foie gras, flour, pasta, rice, mustard, mayonnaise and honey. Many of these products make uncommon hostess gifts as well.

Cheese and Butter—Natural Entry Points
When helping customers incorporate truffle flavor into their holiday menus, a truffle-laced cheese for a cocktail party or flavored butter used in recipes or on the dinner table are ideal starting points. “Cheeses are our best-selling truffle product,” notes
Maggie Fox, the director of Gary’s Wine Club at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace in Wayne, N.J.

Among popular products, Fromagerie Delin, of Burgundy, France, offers a triple crème Brillat-Savarin with truffles inside and Regal de Bourgogne with truffles rolled on the outside, which is available for the holiday season.

Another favored option is Truffle Tremor, a cheese made from ripened goat’s milk by Cypress Grove Chevre in Arcata, Calif., that won the 2009 sofi™ Gold Award for Outstanding Cheese (read more on p. S25). Entertaining recommendations include serving it alone with a dry white wine as a luxurious appetizer, adding an ounce per serving to polenta or risotto or even adding a thin layer of the cheese over mashed potatoes and parsnips.

Butter is also a versatile product for home entertaining. “Truffle products like butter and oil are definitely more accessible [than fresh truffles] and do very well,” says Scott Goldshine, the general manager of Zabar’s in New York. “We let people try them as much as possible. And we make sure that the people doing the demos are knowledgeable. With truffles, you need to explain what to do.”

Thierry Farges of Transatlantic Foods, Inc., a New York-based company that specializes in exotic mushrooms and other specialty food products, says, “Butter is easy to use, and the fat content of the butter retains the flavor of truffle.” Farges and his business partner, François Baumont, last year won the coveted Outstanding New Product sofi™ Gold Award for their Aux Délices des Bois® black truffle butter. (The company’s white truffle butter got even higher scores from the sofi judges in certain categories, but the black truffle butter prevailed as the overall winner, Farges notes.) Part of the appeal of the butter is that it contains actual shreds of truffle, for a potent flavor.

Farges suggests numerous uses for the product: “Take some truffle butter and melt it on a grilled steak. Or on eggs, pasta, risotto or scallops.” Transatlantic provides a recipe card with the butters offering more suggestions, like swirling the butter into a sauce as a finishing touch or tucking it between leaves of warm artichokes. Just remember to advise shoppers that truffle butter should never be cooked or its flavor and aroma is lost, Farges cautions.

Farges is also specific when it comes to how his black or white truffle butters should be marketed. “It must be in the dairy section,” he says. “We don’t want to sell it on the truffle shelf, which in many stores includes truffle oil and jars of truffles locked in a case so nobody can steal it. If it’s with the dairy and cheese, people grab it and eat it and buy some more.” His company also keeps the packaging simple, with a cheerful orange label that does not scream luxury. “We want the product to be used every day,” Farges notes.

Brian Fries, gourmet manager of Gary’s Wine, has another trick to make truffle butter fly off the shelves. He offers free samples of it melted over freshly popped popcorn. “You get the aroma through the whole place,” he says. “People can identify what is unique and special about the truffle aroma when you utilize it in something accessible. You will sell the popcorn and you will sell the butter.”

Among other new truffle butter product entries on the market, Fabrique Délices Artisanal Charcuterie, a French-owned company based in Hayward, Calif., is rolling out a new 3-ounce format of black winter truffle butter, an easy size for retail stores to carry. Much like regular butter, this 100 percent, all-natural French butter is suggested as a finish for any red meat, fish or lobster, pasta, risotto, baked or mashed potatoes or steamed or sautéed vegetables, says Sébastien Espinasse, vice president of sales and marketing.

Other Accessible Luxuries
Demystifying truffles by adding their essence to other easily used products is a trend that is getting traction in the marketplace. Artisan salami producer Cristiano Creminelli of Seattle’s Creminelli Fine Meats, whose family has been in the meat business in Italy since the 1600s, offers Salami Tartufo made with black summer truffles from Northern Italy. At $59.99/2 pounds, it’s one of the more expensive salamis on the market but with a distinctive taste.

Also in the meat department is Fabrique Délices’ foie gras with layers of Périgord truffle, truffled duck ballotine (boned, stuffed and roasted) and truffle mousse. Espinasse recommends the meats simply be sliced and served on a charcuterie plate with cheese, olives and toast points.

While Creminelli and Fabrique Délices concentrate on high-end meats, the cleverly named Fungusamongus, from Snohomish, Wash., uses Italian truffles for producing small batches of more affordable items like Italian green peaches with truffle, and truffle mustard, which can elevate a basic sandwich into the stratosphere. The company recently launched its newest product, organic extra virgin olive oil infused with white truffle.

Then there’s a new line called la Boutique de la truffle, featuring a modern, eye-catching logo on small jars, an ideal size to include in gift baskets. Céline Labaune of Gourmet Attitude, a Manhattan-based importer, recently launched 11 new truffle products from Italy under the label, including white truffle cream, truffle honey, truffle peelings and truffle carpaccio. So far, she says, her truffle honey has been the biggest success.

“In Italy, truffles are like a religion,” says Fabio Auguadro, the U.S. sales manager for La Rustichella, a company based near Rome. “Everybody knows how to use truffles. But here [in New York], my wife is American and we prefer to have something easy.” To that end, the company is making black truffle Pecorino cheese as well as white truffle creamy pumpkin spread and white truffle creamy asparagus spread that adds luster to cheese-filled pasta or a simple bruschetta. “Our sauces are for the family that is always busy but wants to have something luxurious for the holidays,” says Auguadro. “It’s shelf stable so you can also put it aside for three years and still have it ready to go when guests come over,” he says. Rustichella can ship all of its products, including truffle-flavored balsamic vinegar, truffle rice and truffle polenta, overnight to anywhere in the U.S.

“People still like to treat themselves even in a down economy,” notes Vincent Jeanseaume, national sales manager for Sabatino North America, Bronx, N.Y., which offers easy-to-use truffle sea salt and truffle-infused oil, as well as truffle flour and truffle honey. “Our truffle products enable both the chef and home cook to experience the unique and luxurious truffle flavor without having to splurge on buying fresh truffles. As our customer base continues to grow, we like to grow with them by coming up with new products to add to our line to keep things interesting for everyone.”

Whether promoting truffle-laced specialties for parties, meals or for memorable and distinctive gifts, these products are a natural tie-in to holiday merchandising—and familiarizing customers with their earthy flavor and range of applications could help merchants open the door beyond special-occasion sales. |SFM|

Julie Besonen is the food editor at Paper magazine, writes a
weekly restaurant column for nycgo.com and has contributed to the New York Times and the New York Daily News.