The Savvy Gourmet

A new Recipe from Cook is Good: Cream of Parsnips with White Truffle Olive Oil

Parsnips and potatoes seem unexciting to you?

This cream of parsnips with white truffle olive oil recipe  from Cook is Good will show you how to give them some sizzle!

New products: Plantin olive oil flavoured with black winter truffle or white truffle

Plantin olive oil flavoured with black winter truffle or white truffle. Enjoy the aromas of these magical mushrooms mixed with those of a high-quality extra virgin olive oil.

Great products and great price!

A true bargain!

A new Recipe from Chef Goulet: Cream of cauliflower with truffles

The challenge facing Chef Goulet – to create an easy recipe with black winter truffles (Tuber melanosporum).

His response: a delicious soup with a truffle topping.

Enjoy the delicious flavours of this magical mushroom.

Ari’s comments: easy and quick to prepare. A good start to a gourmet meal with an elegant soup your guests will remember.

Black Winter Truffle Peelings from Plantin

Ari's comments: The black winter truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is the truffle favoured by top chefs the world over.

Black winter truffles are a precious, high-priced commodity.

Fortunately, all the flavours of this luxury product are present in truffle peels, a great way to discover truffles and to use them often when cooking your favourite dishes.

And Plantin truffle products have an unbeatable price-quality ratio.

Producers in the Spotlight - Plantin SA

Established in the heart of Provence since 1930, the Plantin firm provides top quality truffles and wild mushrooms to discerning customers all over the world.

Plantin produces a remarkable selection of fresh and preserved truffles, dried morels, chanterelles and porcini, as well as a wide range of oils and vinegars flavoured with black truffles, white truffles or porcini.

Ari’s comments: Plantin is renowned for its top-quality products, now available to OGourmet at very competitive prices in a large assortment of truffle products.

For truffle lovers in Canada and the U.S. and enthusiastic cooks keen to discover truffles, OGourmet canned truffle products are just the thing.

Guide to Wild Mushrooms, or how to Replace Ordinary Mushrooms!

Dried wild mushrooms should receive more attention.

First, because they taste good. In fact, some of them are quite simply sublime!

Secondly, because these wild products are easy to preserve, they are all offered in dried form. Place them for a few minutes in water, and they recover their size and taste.

Not only that, but they are easy to use. Ordinary mushrooms can almost always be replaced with wild mushrooms to obtain exciting new flavours.

To learn more about wild mushrooms, consult the guide.

Mushroom and Truffle Sauce from Urbani Tartufi

This combination of summer truffles (Tuber aestivum) and mushrooms, cooked in traditional “Urbani House” fashion (in olive oil with a touch of garlic, salt and pepper), has become the most popular truffle product of the Urbani collection.

You can count on it! This mushroom and truffle sauce is ready to serve, and Its black colour will stand out on any dish. Simply add it to pasta, grilled meat, roast beef and grilled or boiled fish to enjoy instant success.

Producers in the Spotlight - Urbani Tartufi s.r.l.

The Urbani family has been a prestigious name in the truffle business for generations. Since its inception in 1850, the Urbani reputation for excellence has been carefully and faithfully handed down from one generation to the next.

Today the Urbani Tartufi is directed by Paolo and Bruno Urbani, brothers who are direct descendants of the Urbani founders.

Paolo Urbani received the highest honour – the "Cavaliere del Lavoro" - from the President of the Italian Republic. This prestigious title is reserved only for those entrepreneurs who have made a big economic impact on Italy.

Producers in the Spotlight - Gaspésie Sauvage

Gaspésie Sauvage is located in the mountainous and forested Gaspé peninsula of Eastern Canada.

The company is committed to fair and ethical standards, with respect for the work of their mushroom gatherers and for sustainable development. Their network of gatherers extends throughout the Gaspé peninsula.

 Mushroom growing techniques in our contemporary world have developed to the point where most of the "wild" mushrooms on sale are grown on farms or greenhouses, with many saprophyte mushrooms cultivated in industrial fashion.

That is not the case for most of Gaspésie Sauvage's mushrooms, however. Gaspésie Sauvage offers wild mushrooms picked by hand, true forest delicacies that are indeed foods from the wild.

Coming soon, truffles at the local grocery store!

Black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) at the fruit and vegetable counter in supermarkets? Not for now, but maybe in the near future.

The main factors affecting truffle production are climatic variations during mushroom growth, soil pH and the presence of other competing colonies of fungi. All these factors influence the mycorrhizae, the symbiotic association between a fungus and the roots of a plant.

Comprehension of the mycorrhizae growth mechanisms has possible the development of a methodology to inoculate the roots of a host tree (oak, walnut, etc.). Young saplings are planted in an orchard, and then it becomes a matter of patience – waiting for truffles to grow. This may take several years.

Even though truffle production in France (with more than 20,000 growers) exceeds all other countries worldwide, 80 % of French truffle production now comes from controlled cultivation of truffles in orchards. The “recipe”, developed in conjunction with the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), was soon copied and improved upon throughout the world. Australia, New Zealand, the United States (Oregon, North Carolina, etc.) and many other countries (even Canada!) are in the race and now produce their own truffles and their own local recipes.

Nothing surprising then, should one be invited to the Australian Mundaring Truffle Festival to celebrate the harvest of new local production of truffles. Even though the production of truffles in orchards is still a risky business with a large number of unkown factors, the mass production of high quality truffles is not that far off.

In the meantime, you can stock up on truffles at OGourmet, which offers more than 30 fine truffle products.