Truffles and smells are synonymous but the taste is not always what you expect. Lets face it, a truffle gets found and finds itself to a dealer and in a few days to a week it is in another city. Flying across the sky, the truffle as long as its kept cold will keep its aromas. But the question about taste is another matter and you should expect that the taste suffers. A truffle almost can smell very strong and taste much weaker.

It makes good sense given the fact that the flavors have more to do with the impact role of 2,4-dithiapentane and exposure to temperature changes. The degradation of the aroma shows great dependence on the storage conditions. At 0°C alcohols are released, while at room temperature the conversion of 2,4-dithiapentane into dimethyl disulphide becomes the most relevant alteration of the flavor. There is no doubt white truffles have plenty of sulfur and that’s a major factor in the sensory test.

The non sulfur contents is effected more by the storage of the truffles over time and the aromas are rarely consistent with the actual taste unless the truffle is mature enough and ready to eat. The notion of aromas is key but you need enough experience truffles and correlate between; the look, its aromas and the taste. It helps to understand the intensity of the aroma versus the expectation of its taste.

When you acquire a truffle you should examine it, see the surface color and the take a good sniff at the surface and check the intensity of the aroma. This is in part an indication because a fresh truffle has a different and more intense (deeper aroma) than those which have been cleaned and made ready for transport.