White Truffle Oil – 100 ml

White truffle oil from Vitelium. Olive oil from Molise, truffle aroma, openly declared.

White truffle oil from the Vitelium range is a flavored oil made from extra virgin olive oil, whose truffle note comes from a declared white truffle aroma. No preserved fresh truffle, no frying oil, no oil for large quantities.

Vitelium calls White truffle oil a flavored oil made from extra virgin olive oil, refined with a white truffle aroma. In addition, there is a small proportion of Bianchetto truffle, 0.5 percent according to the ingredients list. Many buyers assume that behind every truffle oil is a bottle full of truffle pieces. Here, the aroma provides the scent, and Vitelium states that clearly on the label. Those who know this use the oil correctly: as a seasoning in drops, not as a substitute for a freshly shaved tuber.

First the truffle scent, then the green olive oil

Vitelium White truffle oil opens with a powerful truffle scent that is reminiscent of forest floor, ripe cheese, and a hint of garlic. This spicy, slightly sulfurous note is typical of the white truffle profile. It takes center stage and lingers on the palate.

The foundation is an oil made from early-harvested olives from the family's own groves. It is green, fresh, and brings a subtle bitterness that carries the truffle without overpowering it. This makes the flavored oil robust but not perfumed.

Anyone who expects only a faint hint from a truffle oil will find this too intense. Those who generally avoid aromas in food are also not well advised to use a truffle oil of this kind. For anyone looking for sliced truffles, it is also unsuitable.

Three drops on hot purée are enough

Truffle oil belongs on the finished plate, never in the hot pan. The manufacturer recommends it for purée, pasta, and risotto, as well as for meat and fish. Heat causes the volatile aromatic compounds to evaporate quickly, which is why the oil is added only after plating.

For a potato purée for four people, half a teaspoon is enough, stirred in just before serving. For tagliatelle with butter and Parmesan, three to four drops per plate are sufficient. Soft-cooked scrambled eggs get the character of a Sunday breakfast with two drops. A celery cream soup or beef carpaccio with arugula can also handle a few drops.

The oil works less well in dishes with a lot of lemon, vinegar, or chili, because acidity and spiciness mask the truffle. For a complete truffle evening, the oil can be combined well with the white truffle cream with Caciocavallo, for example, cream in the pasta, oil on top.

Good to know: Truffle scent binds to fat. Stir one teaspoon of oil into 50 g of soft butter, salt lightly, and chill the butter. A slice of it melts on a steak or on baked potatoes and distributes the truffle more evenly than drops.

Why this truffle oil uses an aroma

Fresh white truffle, botanically Tuber magnatum Pico, retains its scent for only a few days. When preserved in oil, it loses it just as quickly. A truffle oil that is supposed to taste the same for months therefore needs a stable aroma as a carrier.

The Bianchetto, Tuber borchii, is a smaller white truffle that is found in late winter and spring. In Vitelium's oil, it is an addition at 0.5 percent, not the source of the scent. As soon as an olive oil is given an aroma or herbs, it may no longer be sold as extra virgin olive oil. The commercial designation is then flavored oil.

Behind Vitelium is a couple from between Hamburg and Molise. Plant biologist Davide Petrollino looks after the family's olive groves and production in Provvidenti, a tiny village in the province of Campobasso. Sales in Germany are managed by Constanze Engelbrecht with the Vitelium GmbH, founded in 2018, in Hamburg. The truffles sought are from the house of Angelo, a truffle hunter friend from Molise. The region is one of the important white truffle-finding areas in Italy.

Trial size for truffle novices and guest gifts

This size is suitable for kitchens where truffle is an occasion and not a habit. One milliliter corresponds to approximately 20 drops. At four drops per plate, the small bottle mathematically lasts for several hundred servings.

After opening, the aroma fades over time, so a small bottle is consumed as long as it still smells fresh. As a gift for a dinner, it fits into any bag, and together with a packet of good tagliatelle, it becomes a complete gift.

Anyone who cooks risotto or pasta with truffle more often after the first introduction will find the same oil as White truffle oil in the 250-ml bottle. Store the bottle cool, dark, and tightly sealed.

An honestly declared truffle oil on green olive oil from Molise: in the small bottle for trying, learning to dose, and gifting.