FAQ

What is your shipping policy?

INTERNATIONAL

Seasonal truffle shipments arrive in Singapore within two days of being harvested from the Château de La Fuye truffle orchard. The truffle season runs from around early December to the end of January. We take the quality and freshness of our French black winter truffles extremely seriously.

DOMESTIC

As well as servicing the Singapore market, Truffes de La Fuye are sold in Paris and London, to various Michelin-acclaimed restaurants. Truffles sold in Paris are collected from La Fuye and delivered within one day.

Are La Fuye truffles organic?

Yes, but like almost all truffle producers - and incidentally quite a lot of wine producers - we have not paid for the official certification from Agence Bio. Pesticide has never been used on the truffle orchard at La Fuye and the fields are farmed biodynamically, in accordance with the lunar calendar.

How do I order wholesale?

There is a scarcity to truffles which is part of their magic, but we are currently taking pre-orders for the next season.

Why are truffles so expensive?

Black winter truffles (and white truffles) are considered to be one of the most luxurious foods in the world. They have a fixed market price that fluctuates and changes weekly (as a rule, they are always most expensive in the run-up to Christmas). They are not easy to cultivate - they grow below ground, near the roots of trees. They have a pungent aroma, which is detected by highly trained trained dogs, or pigs. Once found, the truffle must be carefully dug out. The season is short because they must be harvested in winter when they are most ripe. Rarity and heavy demand makes truffles highly prized in terms of both allure and value.

What IS a truffle?

The truffle is a subterranean mushroom that grows in the soil around certain slow-growing trees. There are many different types of truffles (see our page here) but the most prized type, after white, is ours: the black winter truffle (Tuber melanosporum).

If you are buying a whole truffle, they will often have a little nick on the side that shows they have been graded (the quality depends on a variety of things including perfume, shape and size, presence and density of white veins). The nick allows you to see - and smell - the quality.

How long do truffles keep for?

About a week, if you follow the steps below. They are best enjoyed as soon as they’ve been harvested: if you’re the lucky recipient of a truffle, eat it as soon as you possibly can and resist the temptation to keep it, which a lot of people make the mistake of doing. Truffles slowly deteriorate once they’re out of the ground. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge, lined with kitchen paper. Change the paper daily.

What do truffles taste like?

Truffles have a strong, earthy - sometimes musky - flavour, hinting at umami and yet surprisingly floral given their subterranean existence. Yet despite their strength of flavour, there is a subtlety to them. Truffle oil, which is always artificial (truffles cannot impart their flavour through oil), has over-exposed a great deal of people to a synthetic ‘truffle’ fragrance which is not representative of the taste of real truffles.

Is truffle oil real?

No! Many people might, not unreasonably, assume that truffle oil is oil that has had truffles marinating in it to impart truffle flavour. This is incorrect. Truffle oil is just a normal oil (usually canola, grapeseed, olive, etc) with the addition of chemical 2,4-dithiapentane. This single artificial chemical has an aroma that mimics (to an extent) the 300+ aromas found in actual truffles.

In the U.S. it is even legal to use the words ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ in front of the words ‘truffle oil’, which has led to a class action lawsuit.

While there are oils infused with genuine truffle shavings, these are just for show —a visual selling point— for the simple reason that truffles do not impart any aroma into oil.