Customer Reviews

La Tourangelle Infused White Truffle Oil, 8.45-Ounce Tins (Pack of 2)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

"Full strength" truffle oils (as opposed to olive oils that claim to have truffle flavor but are much weaker) often cost $6-$10 per ounce, so you'd better hope you're getting a far superior product to this one to pay several times as much. For the most part, you aren't.

No matter what they call it (truffle flavor, truffle essence, natural flavors related to the truffle) all "truffle oils" - every single one of them - use fake flavoring, specifically 2,4-dithiapentane. This is the main flavor compound found in truffles, similar to how vanillin is the main component of vanilla beans but can be made artificially. A few oils do contain tiny amounts of real truffles, but it's just for show; a "pure" truffle oil would require hundreds of dollars worth of white truffle just to make a few ounces of flavored oil.

If all truffle oils rely on the same compound that can be made relatively cheaply and consistently, how do the "better" truffle oils justify the higher price? First, they package them in fancy looking tiny bottles. Second, they use Italian olive oil as the base oil. The goal is to suggest (falsely) that the truffle flavor comes from real Italian truffles.

So while it's true that some truffle oils taste better than others, this is mostly (perhaps entirely) due to the quality of the oil used. La Tourangelle uses organic safflower oil, which is nearly flavorless. On its own, it does tastes more "chemically" than olive-oil based oils. If it took a lot of truffle oil to flavor a dish, this might be a serious weakness. But in reality it takes just a few drops to flavor a dish, so you're usually going to add additional fat anyway. You can put your savings towards the premium oil of your choice. Besides, in some dishes (eggs or mushrooms cooked in butter), you might not want olive oil flavor anyway.

One caution/tip: like wine, "truffle essence" oxidizes and changes flavor. So unless you plan to use the whole bottle within a month or two, it's best to keep the air out. I filled several glass "airline size" whiskey bottles with the oil and use one at a time. I also keep the bottles in the refrigerator, as heat and light speed up oxidation.

I haven't done a side by side taste test but I've tried several brands of white truffle oil and this is as good as any of them. White truffle oil can take an ordinary dish up to that next level. I always try to keep some on hand.

I have purchased more expensive truffle oils before and they have all been wonderful, so naturally I was skeptical when it came to a "cheaper" price. This has a nice taste and with any truffle product-- a little goes a long way! The oil they have used to infuse with the truffle is grape-seed and it is really nice to cook with. Weather on a budget or not, I give this product a thumbs up! Hope this helps!

I purchased another brand at a high end gourmet store at three times the price and it barely tasted like truffles. This oil is extremely intense and fresh in flavor. Very appealing and delicious.

I usually use Rolands truffle oil.
I bought this brand to try (it was so cheap that it was worth to try) The difference in price between rolands and this brand is enormous, but also the difference in quality. I dont think truffle oil is a staple for the kitchen, unless you make rissoto three times per week, so if Im gonna make rissotto once per week or twice per month I will use the good stuff (especially the difference it makes in the dish).
This oil is very aromatic, but when you use it in your food it almost doesn't have any flavor.
It was very disappointing. I wont buy it again.

Although the product description notes that Grapeseed Oil is used as a base for this infused oil the shipment I received uses Sunflower Oil.

This product is an absolute disgrace, and how the company has the gall to call it an infused truffle oil is beyond me. For a start, this comes in a tin, which is never a good start, and the quality of the oil used for this is appalling. I believe it is grapeseed oil - given truffle oil is intended as a finishing, and not a cooking oil, any decent cook knows that an almost colorless, high heat oil with almost no flavor intended for cooking is a completely inappropriate choice as the base for an infused oil intended to be served cold. The end product is pale, tasteless and almost without any aroma, let alone that of truffles. The presentation in a tin is unattractive and also lends the oil a somewhat metallic taint...just a generally awful product. I guess they realize that the product looks so bad that if they put it in glass they'd never sell any of it. The only conceivable advantage of this being a cooking oil would seem to be that you might be able to burn off some of the dreadful chemical taint.

There are numerous reviews commenting (appropriately) on the 'truffle aroma' listed in the ingredients....what an absolute crock! This isn't an ingredient, unless it refers to the fact that a white truffle was waved somewhere in a 5 mile vicinity of the vat of oil, and there is a remote chance that some of it may have floated past. I would also say that any company that sells the number of apparently different infused oils that this company does, is hardly likely to be interested in ensuring the veracity of any one product. If I could hazard a guess I imagine they all taste very similar, and are all created from the same dreadful base oil.

We use truffle oil to finish dishes like risotto and scrambled eggs, so I am looking for something that is infused into a good quality base oil, with nice color, and has an aroma that even if it is not naturally derived (one review suggests truffle flavor never is), it certainly smells like it. I don't think you can go past the Bartolini brand (available on this site). It uses extra virgin olive oil as a base, has a small piece of truffle visible in the bottle, which certainly smells like truffle, and it looks and smells great on food, which surely is the point. My advice, avoid the Tourangelle at all costs and give the Bartolini a try instead.

I am disgusted that they are allowed to get away with tricking people. There is no actual truffle used in this product but they do everything they can to convince you that there is. The ingredients say organic sunflower oil and white truffle extract. Extract makes you think it was extracted from real truffles, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. The extract is a chemical compound manufactured in a laboratory to mimic the smell of real truffles.

How about where it says in the label that "White truffles originate in Alba, Italy and are considered to many to be the most prestigious truffles"...do you suppose that means white truffles from Italy have anything to do with this concoction? Well, they don't. They might as well have written, "The sun is so and so many miles away from the earth." They put that sentence in just to further trick you so you think that you are getting an expensive product with a grand tradition behind it when all you are getting is some cheap oil with some synthetic chemical added to it.

They should be ashamed of themselves. Should they be allowed to sell you a synthetic chemical to eat? Maybe. Should they be allowed to market the product to convince customers that they are getting a product made with real truffles? No, they absolutely should not. We have food laws that are supposed to protect customers from this sort of trickery. The FDA has really dropped the ball on this.

Update: They are getting even trickier. Their label has now been changed to read truffle extract instead of truffle aroma. I called the FDA. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (see section 201 for definitions) has never defined the term extract. I was specifically told this on the phone by an FDA representative. She said because the term extract has not been legally defined by this act, anything can be called an extract. Thus, La Tourangelle can legally get away with calling something a truffle extract even if truffles weren't used to make it.

Yes I realize that many truffle oils are just an exercise in organic chemistry. However, if you want a strong truffle flavor and use a lot of this oil, then you will have a dish that smells like machine oil and still lacks a dense truffle taste.

Looking at the oil from the top of a full can, you will notice small dark oil droplets suspended in an ocean of safflower oil. There's not many dark drops, which is the active ingredient. So you are really buying an expensive bottle of safflower oil. And when was the last time you remember eating truffles which looked like motor oil looking drops in your dish? There is a reason it comes in a dark metal can. Enough said, try another brand.

Bottom line = yuck

I purchased this from a local grocery store. I have used La Tourangelle oils before and was impressed. However, this oil is bland in taste and doesn't really have any truffle flavour. Checking the list of ingredients, it confirmed my suspicion, there is no truffle in this product. It is flavoured with Truffle aroma, whatever that is. I returned it to the store and bought a better but more expensive brand.