Planet Cheese; December 10, 2024: by Janet Fletcher
Love them, or love them not so much, truffled cheeses occupy more space than ever at the cheese counter. Obviously they are popular, or creameries wouldn’t make them. From truffled goat cheese to truffled Gouda, there are fungi-scented renditions of virtually every cheese style. Fresh truffles blossom in butter and cream, so it makes sense that the most successful truffled cheeses—in my view—are buttery, creamy types. The luscious new arrival pictured above makes my case. If you’re seeking some bling for a holiday cheese board, look no further than this bloomy beauty.
California’s Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese introduced Truffle Brie this year, possibly inspired by the success of its TomaTruffle. At a little over 8 ounces, the format is closer to Camembert, but consumers aren’t likely to care. Note how thin and even the rind is, and how supple the interior. You can tell just from looking that the texture is dreamy.
Point Reyes Truffle Brie smells like…truffles, which is to say it largely smells like the sulfur compounds responsible for the aroma of black and white truffles. Researchers say that a signature scent in black truffles is dimethyl sulfide; in white truffles, the dominant (but not only) scent is bis(methylthio)methane (BMTM). These compounds can be synthesized but they also have natural sources beyond truffles. Cooked cabbage contains dimethyl sulfide. So do many wines, and at high levels, it’s considered a flaw. Shiitake mushrooms and Tilsit cheese contain BMTM.
Years ago, I wrote a story for the San Francisco Chronicle about the burgeoning craze for white truffle oil. The newspaper paid for a fresh white truffle that I infused in olive oil for several days. Then the food department’s tasting panel tasted it blind against some of the popular imports that many skeptics presumed were synthetic given their price. My certifiably real truffle oil placed in the middle of the pack and was faulted for not being aromatic enough. The Chronicle also paid a wine lab to analyze my oil versus the others. The chemical tracings revealed little difference, although labs today can distinguish real from fake.
While I was writing the story, my husband obtained some dimethyl sulfide from the lab and put a minute amount in olive oil. He took it to the buyer at a specialty food store, who immediately identified it as white truffle oil. At the time, we joked about making our fortune by producing white truffle oil that had never seen a truffle.
The Point Reyes Truffle Brie contains black summer truffles from Sabatino, a respected Italian firm in Umbria. Needless to say, the creamery isn’t using gorgeous fresh truffles like the one pictured on the creamery website. To make an affordable wheel, they use truffle brisure, the tiny crumbles that processors sell. And then they boost the aroma with natural flavoring, presumably one or more of the sulfur compounds present in fresh truffles. I learned a bit about natural flavoring, especially as it relates to truffle products, from this post.
I’ve tasted many truffled cheeses but the only one that I knew for sure contained only fresh truffles was the handmade truffled Mt. Tam that Napa Valley chef Ken Frank shared with me. You can see in this video how he makes it, for the enjoyment of those who can afford to dine at La Toque.
To be honest, I use truffled cheeses mostly in cooking. Last year I discovered what truffled pecorino could do for a cauliflower risotto. For an easy hot appetizer to go with sparkling wine, make these mini grilled panini with Point Reyes TomaTruffle. A fresh truffle will always be the ideal, at least for me, but a truffled cheese makes a budget-friendly alternative.
