Francois Coty, a master of marketing, knew how to get a girl's attention.
"Give a woman the best product you can compound, present it in a perfect container (beautifully simple, but of impeccable taste), charge a reasonable price for it and a great business will arise such as the world has never seen," wrote the Corsican-born perfumer in 1906.
— Message in a bottle, in The Age, looks at perfume packaging and how today's perfumes are "dressed for success".
A TRUFFLE by any other name may smell as sweet, but what if that name is 2,4-dithiapentane? All across the country, in restaurants great and small, the “truffle” flavor advertised on menus is increasingly being supplied by truffle oil. What those menus don’t say is that, unlike real truffles, the aroma of truffle oil is not born in the earth.
— It isn't about perfume, but Hocus-Pocus, and a Beaker of Truffles, from The New York Times, will resonate with perfume fans who wonder how much of what they smell is "real".
We have been eating and drinking synthetic flavourings for upwards of one hundred years. Not to mention the fake colors. Just as in perfumery. It is a matter of choice. Some are intent on bringing to the fore an excellent product, yet the difference in mindset between individuals will yeild a wide variety of excellence. I use truffle oil. I like truffle oil. Will I stop using it now. Nope. I have learned to pick my battles. and at this point I am so over the natural vs.synthetic issue, food, scent or otherwise. It's a non-issue.
But I am curious to know why the ingredients are not listed on the bottle. I was under the impression that all foodstuff ingredients must be listed in order of percentage. On my truffle oil bottles, only oil is listed. Perhaps it is a loop hole, like the one they use to hide certain kinds of preservatives in cosmetics products. Oh, well. interesting read, none the less.
ZZ
I read this yesterday at NYT, and I was shocked! (Not “Shocked! Shocked!” as in Casablanca, but really surprised.) I always thought truffle oil was the oil used to hold truffles for preservation, to extend the life of truffles and to make the expensive stuff go a little farther in the kitchen. I have a small bottle in the pantry, purchased at great price. It was so expensive I dared not use it except a few times, and wrapped up the cap with foil to keep the magic from escaping.
After reading the article, (Nooooo…. it can't be) I ran home to look at my bottle, the label says: Tartufo Nero, A Base Di Olio Di Oliva. That's it. There's no content label, no volume measurement, no ingredient list, for all I know, this imposter could have come from a big vat in the Crisco factory, despite the high-falutin' Italian and fancy label.
I'm crushed, really. Real truffle being so expensive, and so delicious (a generous shaving of white Alba truffle on top of a creamy plate of risotto cooked just al dente is this side of heaven on a blustery day in early spring), that I can never afford to buy a real truffle. Truffle oil was the closest I'll ever get to the real thing, cooking at home.
Sorry … err … of course I mean fall, not spring. I have spring on the mind. 🙁
I have no problem with synthetic flavoring ingredients, and agree that for me, the natural vs. synthetic “debate” is a non-issue.
But there is something rather comical about the idea that apparently almost nobody knew that truffle oil doesn't contain any truffle. In a way, I think the natural vs. synthetic debate is fueled by efforts to “hide” the use of synthetics. Their use is commonplace, yet most companies are unwilling to admit it.
Well, seriously, then why worry about it? I guess it is an imposter, but if you love the taste, well, hey.
My primary objection is that its makers pretend it to be something it's not: oil infused with real truffles. One may argue that the producers never put on the label “Made with real truffles”, but that's just disingenuous quibbles. If it is called “truffle oil”, I can't be faulted for thinking it's oil derived from real truffles.
I dunno … when I read about Sur le Nil, I don't think that JCE peels and pulps crates of green mangoes to make his extract. Who is innocent anymore, after Fast Food Nation? LOL! But that's a fragrance, this is food. I've pretty much accepted that most fragrances are created with synthetics (how can there be a frosted iris in nature?) but I still expect to be eating what I think I'm eating.
OK, back to beauty & frangrance … I found a “luxury” “exclusive” Alba truffle shampoo and conditioner, made with, what else, European truffle oil. 🙂 Heh!
I do agree — as I said above, I think the problem is not that companies (food or perfume) use synthetics so much as that they try to hide it. And we expect that strawberry candy is artificially flavored, but an expensive item like truffle oil, somehow, you'd expect it to be made from truffles.
Still, if you love the flavor, it is worth having, right? I mean, the part where Jean Louis Palladin is dashing bottles because “it's full of chemicals” seemed a bit over the top to me.