Dried truffles!

[Jenise]

Bought a jar of beautiful looking dried black truffle slices from Italy yesterday, just $16. Was imagining them in polenta to be precise. I'll let you know how good they are. They really only have to be passably good (compared to fresh) to thrill me--I do love the flavor of truffles and the real deal is just beyond my pain threshhold this year.

Anybody use them?

Never seen them. I'll be interested to hear about how they work out.

A lot of other mushrooms go through some sort of transformation when dried and rehydrated = intensifies and accents the umami thing. Not sure you'd want a truffle to change, but will be interested to hear what you say.

Only way to A/B is to rehydrate the dried shroom, take a slice and compare the taste to a slice of fresh.

[Jenise]

Obviously I can't do that, and won't be going for an a/b thing anyway. More like, do a few slices add real truffle flavor to something such it would be worth spending $16 on a small jar on a routine basis--yes or no. We'll see. I have a pureed cauliflower/celery root soup on the hob right now, will add some to the pot when I take it off to cool down.

I, also, will be interested in your comments. Dried mushrooms are indeed a very good thing, but taste and texture bear little relationship to the fresh and that is where my head struggles with how a dried truffle would feel and taste and smell. One of my favourite things when I get my annual freash black truffle is to surreptitiously open the container and take a good long sniff when no one is looking and then we eat them ..
Although of course, dried porcini have a wonderful intense aroma so....
If they are a good thing Amazon has 1 lb bags for $150. $9.38 per ounce.

If the dried ones don't do the job, can try Paris rooftop variety - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42465056