Fancy Food Show Report 2022 - Flavor of the Year: Truffle

The Fancy Food Show is back! This annual trade show put on by the Specialty Food Association resumed last month after a two-year Covid hiatus. When I lived in New Jersey, attending the show was an easy day trip to Manhattan. Now that I live in Cincinnati, I worried that I might not be able to get there this year, so I was ecstatic when I realized the Show coincided with an already planned trip back east. I was lucky to spend two busy days tasting new and favorite old products, taking notes for stories, and meeting interesting people who love to talk about food as much as I do.

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The Specialty Food Association doesn’t actually designate a flavor of the year, but there always seems to be one ingredient that shows up in everything.
​I’m not sure how this happens, but I have a theory.​

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My Theory
I think it starts in restaurants. High-end chefs in top restaurants are innovators. They travel, searching for new culinary experiences, ingredients, and techniques. They bring what they learn back to their kitchens and start turning out dishes that include their new-found favorite ingredient.

Diners, including food writers and producers, take note. Word spreads and consumers start looking for that ingredient to use at home. Meanwhile, producers start developing products and within a year or two, it appears as the Flavor of the Year at the Fancy Food Show.

​I don’t have any evidence to support my theory, but it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.

Past Trends
Over the past 20+ years that I’ve attended the Show, I’ve seen flavor trends come and go. Blood Orange. Hibiscus. Matcha (green tea powder). Ginger. The Flavor of the Year shows up in all kinds of products including tea, soft drinks, cocktail mixers, salad dressings, salsas and sauces, crackers, olive oil, even cheeses and snacks. Those that are super popular remain; others fall out of the product line-up within a couple of cycles.

In addition to the usual truffle oils, salts, and pastes, this year I saw truffle potato chips, truffle hot sauce, truffle candy, honey, chocolate, salted caramel, syrup, and granola. Yes, truffle granola.

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The unexpected Flavor of the Year is the epitome of fancy food: Truffles!
They are hard to find, imported, and expensive. . . . . . . . So how do they become Flavor of the Year?

What is Truffle?
​It’s a fungus that grows underground under a host tree, often oak or hazelnut. There are many types – black and white are most common; and they are seasonal - autumn and winter are most common. They grow naturally in Italy and France, where they are harvested with the help of pigs or dogs who are specially trained both to find truffles and to not eat them. These days truffles are also cultivated elsewhere, including the US, but they are a finicky crop that takes a long time to grow, so even farmed truffles are expensive. In their natural form they are extremely perishable, which also affects price. ​

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Why Truffles Now?
It's no surprise that the Covid pandemic is the key influence. Consumer behavior changed dramatically and many of the changes will become permanent.

The Mintel Group is a global market research firm. According to its 2022 Global Consumer Trends report: Having endured lockdowns, consumers . . . will be seeking joyful products that amplify the flavours, colours, textures, aromas . . . that food and drink can provide.

Most of the other research I found was from 2021, but it shows that consumers expect to continue cooking and eating at home more than they did pre-pandemic. Anecdotally, truffle vendors at the Fancy Food Show think that during lockdowns, people watched cooking shows on TV and online, where they learned about new products and ingredients they now want in their pantry. Producers also think that consumers will spend some of the restaurant money they save on more expensive “fancy foods” to use at home.
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Jonathan Frazer, Director of Sales at The Truffleist, agrees. “Everyone became a home chef (during Covid),” he said. “Ingredients like truffles are not just for the rich anymore; they’ve become mainstream.” He also talked about how his company pivoted during Covid, from selling at holiday markets and pop-ups in New York, to collaborating with other, local companies to expand their product line and with food service to introduce a larger audience to their products. “Grocery, e-commerce saved us.”

Favorite Bite Alert!
Every year, in the Italian pavilion, there's a booth that makes one of my favorite things to eat.

The top is removed from a parmesan wheel; then it's dug out to create a bowl. The chef boils pasta or risotto, drains it slightly, and tosses it into the parmesan bowl. Then he (and yes, so far, it’s always been he) adds generous spoonsful of truffle paste and tosses the hot pasta around, melting some cheese into the mixture. This year, the final dish was garnished with slices of fresh truffle.

The creaminess of the pasta, the umami of the parmesan, and the pungent earthiness of the truffle is one of the most amazing bites of food I’ve ever eaten.

​It is always the first and the last thing I eat at the show.

​What is Truffle Flavored?
In most regular US supermarkets, you’ll typically find truffles infused in salt or extra virgin olive oil, products that can impart rich, earthy truffle flavor to homemade dishes at a more affordable cost.

But beware.

You can find imported salts and oils infused with genuine truffles, but even many of those are enhanced with "truffle aroma" or artificial flavor. There’s nothing wrong with that; the science behind manufactured flavors can result in authentic flavor profiles and they are safe. But you don’t want to pay expensive truffle prices for artificially flavored salt. Read labels to know what you're getting and shop around.

Where to Buy and What
Unfortunately for me, I don’t earn anything from any of these companies. Fortunately for you, that means I only recommend products I truly like, or even love.

La Rustichella
This Black Truffle Paté is, without a doubt, the most truffly-tasting product I have tried. Made with real black winter truffle (12% by weight), it is rich and pungent. 
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Urbani
The Urbani family has been in the truffle business for six generations, since 1852. Clearly they’re doing something right. Old fashioned attention to quality combined with modern processing techniques and e-commerce are a winning combination.

Truff
is a relative newcomer on the truffle scene. Their jewel-shaped bottle tops represent the precious liquids inside. They offer a classic oil infused with black truffle oil concentrate and actual black winter truffle – no artificial flavor here. But the bulk of their product line is hot sauce, offered in several degrees of heat and also infused with the real deal.

The Truffleist
In addition to their flagship Truffle Butter, The Truffleist collaborates with other companies to combine their truffles with the best of what their partners offer. So their product line also includes cheese, mousse de foie gras, brats, salami, and mustard. They also have some really nice gift sets.

How to Enjoy Truffles
Because they are so precious and their flavor is unique, truffles are traditionally paired with mild tasting foods that act as a vehicle to carry them. Pasta and eggs are classic.

Whether you're using an oil, butter, paste, or GASP fresh truffles - never apply direct high heat. As described in my Favorite Bite Alert, cook the pasta or egg and gently toss with truffle to warm slightly, not cook.

My favorite is a small dollop on top of a ricotta-shmeared baguette slice.