If you are trying to decide on what unique gift to give to the male in your life, whether that be your father, husband, grandfather, son, or nephew, you are in luck if he happens to have a sweet tooth or loves to make gourmet dinners. In either case, a top favorite is the TRUFFLE.
However, be careful what you order because there is a vast discrepancy between the popular chocolate truffle and the culinary fungus delicacy.
What is the difference?
The CHOCOLATE truffle is an irresistibly soft, fancy, and rich bite-size candy and dessert confectionery traditionally having a chocolate mixture/ganache inside made of melted chocolate, heavy cream, and butter with added chopped toasted nuts and different flavorings such as liqueurs, rum, coffee, vanilla, and spices. The mixture is then rolled into small balls by hand and covered with dark, milk or white chocolate and sometimes topped with cocoa powder, coconut, sprinkles, or more nuts.
These small balls are actually easy to make and definitely are easy and delicious to eat. They are firm on the outside but wonderfully soft and silky on the inside. It is incredible how the cacao percentage and a different origin can influence the chocolate’s flavor. Coconut milk can make it extra creamy. The assortments make spectacular gifts when the container is beautifully decorated in one of multiple ways and wound with a pretty ribbon.
Do you know why avocado is used in some gourmet chocolates?
The avocado oils and the creamy texture give a velvety texture when combined with cacao, but dairy is not needed to be added.
Champagne-spiked chocolate truffles
These boozy little bites are gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and organic and still are a decadent and rich treat. They make a post-dinner treat in place of dessert on a special occasion.
Range of flavors
Selections are almost too pretty to eat, especially when exquisitely painted with swirls, flecks, and splatters. Handmade in small batches, they can feature a variety of flavors that can be regularly updated and added to. Some of the unusual tastes have been fruity mango, passion fruit, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, spiced coffee, pistachio, sea salt, double espresso, caramel, and citrus-spiked orange or mandarin winners.
Vegan chocolate does not contain dairy milk, which is often replaced with coconut oil, coconut milk, or other plant-based milk alternatives such as oat or almond milk. Added to cacao butter, chocolate can be outstandingly full-flavored without any additional flavoring or artificial ingredients being included.
The FUNGUS truffle is strong-smelling, resembles a rough-skinned and irregular potato, and grows underground in woodland at the base/roots of trees such as beech, oak, poplar, or hazel, where they exchange nutrients. It is a subterranean culinary, edible, and expensive delicacy because it takes the aid of trained pigs or dogs to uproot them. It is a completely different fungus from a mushroom.
Although the aroma and flavor differ according to the variety, those truffles have a musky, earthy, oaky, and nutty flavor. Black truffles have chocolatey notes, and white truffles are slightly more pungent with a flavor and aroma that resemble shallots or garlic and have a compact, firm, and spongy texture.
The white truffle is the most valuable because it is affected very much by weather and climate that leaves them exposed to the elements and without an outer shell.
The rarest fungus truffles are the most expensive food in the world and can cost up to thousands of dollars per pound depending on their rarity, location, and specific aromatic and other qualities such as appearance, taste, and smell. Found in a variety of regions around the world, the black truffle is mostly from the Périgord region of southwestern France and is prized for its fruity and aromatic qualities. It ranges in size from that of a pea to an orange and weighs as much as 2.2 pounds.
The very rare Italian white or Piedmont truffle is found primarily in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, has the strongest smell of all the truffles, and ranges in size from a walnut to an apple and weighing up to one pound.
Conclusion
Although either type of truffle would make an exceptional gift, the chocolate one is certainly the choice for your male with a sweet tooth who is looking for a pick-me-up to boost his mood while the fungus one would appeal to the male who considers himself a chef who knows that putting some truffle in an outstanding dish is a prime addition.
