When you buy a fresh truffle, you expect it to be fresh, ripe, and free from significant blemishes. The quality of our fresh truffles is vitally important to us, and so there are a number of things we do in preparing fresh truffles, to ensure only the best truffle reaches you when you receive your order.

Squeaky clean

Firstly, we clean the truffle. This is done with a firm brush, and sometimes a very small amount of water, to ensure that all the mud is removed from your truffle. We also brush to remove any truffle debris particles from in between the gnarly, pyramidal protrusions. If crumbs are left here, they will cling to moisture, making the truffle skin more moist, and making it perish more quickly.

How do I smell?

Secondly, we smell and squeeze the truffle. 99% of a truffle unique characteristic is it’s aroma – after all, we eat just as much with our noses as our mouths. We check on the intensity of the aroma, ensuring it is representative of the ripeness quality we’d expect at that point in the season. Smelling the truffles can also provide tell-tale signs if there happens to be any invisible pest damage to the truffle, or if it has not matured properly. Truffles should be firm (Winter Truffles have a little give if ripe), so squeezing the truffle informs us of how ripe it is, or it is over-ripe and should be discarded. It is important to know that whilst White Truffles should be eaten as quickly as possible from harvest; Black Truffles aroma actually peaks 4 to 6 days after harvest.

Only the good stuff

Thirdly, we may inflict a “farmers cut” (a small cut to inspect the interior of the Truffle) or remove any areas of natural damage – most often caused by underground creatures, and sometimes doggy paws. We use a pairing knife to carefully remove only any damaged or affected areas. This results in a truffle that may have a small “nick” or even a slice removed. This prevents the damage from spreading. It also means that your order should only contain lovely Truffle that can be consumed, not made up of damaged truffle that you cannot use. And when you buy truffles, you (and we) want to enjoy every single gram.

Take a look at our post on Caring for Fresh Truffles to learn how to look after them once they arrive.