Are truffles vegan?

The noble bulb as a vegan food.

Some of the edible truffle types are among the most expensive foods in the world. So it's a luxury product, but with great properties. Award-winning chefs like to use the noble tubers for their rich guests. But there are also cheaper, vegan edible truffles with comparable valuable properties. The truffle, botanically, tuber belongs to the mushrooms (sac fungi).

To the truffle shop >>> Shop vegan

But are the truffles also considered vegan?

Yes, since truffles belong to the group of mushrooms (Fungi), they are not animals (Animalia), which consequently also means that they are not able to feel pain. For this reason, truffles are considered a vegan food. Strictly speaking, fungi do not count as plants either. Mushrooms are the third group of life forms on earth.

How is the vegan mushroom found?

For the search for the vegan truffle, trained truffle dogs are used, which in the vast majority of cases lead a full life, free from unfair treatment, animal cruelty and killing. The truffle hunters keep their four-legged companions as family dogs. Truffle hunting is a game for the dog and gives him pleasure in making his master happy, so these animals are not exploited.

Pigs and dogs are masters at finding truffles, which grow underground. The truffles exude an intense smell, which is reminiscent of the sex attractant of a boar. Therefore, farmers from ancient times to modern times have used female pigs for truffle hunting. However, truffle pigs have been banned since the 1980s because they stir up the ground in such a way that the sensitive truffle mycelium was damaged. At this point no more truffles grew in the next season.

Nowadays, dogs are used almost exclusively for truffle hunting. In contrast to a pig weighing 300 kilograms, they are much easier to transport, more obedient and more persistent. A breed of dog that is particularly suitable for the search for vegan truffles is the Lagotto Romagnolo.

There are also other methods of tracking the truffles. With the help of the little truffle fly. Experienced truffle hunters only need a stick. The light orange flies with their transparent wings sit on the ground, where there is a ripe truffle bulb directly below. They lay their eggs in the ground whereupon the maggots later eat the precious tubers. The truffle hunter simply hits the forest floor gently with his finder and where the truffle flies fly up briefly and then sits down again on the ground, where an edible truffle can be found at a depth of about 5 to 20 cm.

There is even a method that works completely without animal help: that of the truffle trap. However, this method is only possible on truffle plantations. You take a truffle of the same species, but from a different plantation (extension of the gene pool) from the same region. For example, a Burgundy truffle from Lower Austria for your own plantation in Upper Austria. Finely grind this tuber and mix it with compost, a little lime, vermiculite (the carrier of the truffle spores) and water. The exact recipes for truffle traps can be found under the Recipes for truffle substrate.

Dig the substrate mixture in four places around each truffle tree and mark each place with a flag. You can of course also draw the places where the truffle traps were buried on a map (with GPS coordinates). Then after 2 to 3 years truffles will grow exactly in those places.

Is truffle oil vegan?

There are 2 types of truffle oils:

Truffle oils with "real" truffles and those with artificial flavors. Both are considered vegan! Truffle oils with artificial flavors are basically always vegan (no matter how you define veganism) as they are made from vegetable oils and synthetically produced compounds. Flavored truffle oil does not taste as good as an oil with real vegan truffles, but it can be an alternative if you are averse to consuming real truffles.

Are the vegan truffles healthy?

1. You are low in fat: Vegan truffles are well suited for those who want to eat little fat or want to lose weight. When dried, they only have about 2-8% fat.

2. Rich in antioxidants: Antioxidants are important to our health as they lower the risk of chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. Because vegan truffles are rich in various antioxidants like vitamin C and lucopene, they can help kill cancer cells and reduce inflammation in the body.

3. Reduces inflammation: Research has shown that vegan truffles can reduce inflammation, thus promoting overall health and immunity, and reducing the risk of infection, disease, and chronic illness.

 4. Rich in nutritional values: Vegan truffles contain many important vitamins and minerals for our body such as vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and iron. They're also high in protein and fiber. In fact, studies have shown that truffles can even be a complete source of protein, providing you with all of the nutrition you need.

5. You are cholesterol free: High cholesterol levels are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Vegan truffles are a cholesterol-free food, all the more reason to enjoy more truffles.

 

Vegan truffle nutritional table:

energy	105 kj / 25 kcal
water	75 g
Protein	5.5 g
fat	0.5 g
Carbohydrates (sugar)	0 g
Fiber	16 g
Minerals	2 g

 

Our vegan truffle recipe:

 Ingredients for vegan truffle recipe 2 servings

500g ribbon noodle / pasta

Salt water

100ml virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic

40g vegan black truffle

1 pinch of sea salt

 

 

Nutritional values per serving:

kcal 1323 / protein 32.60 g / fat 53.08 g / carbohydrates 177.83 g

Preparation of a vegan truffle recipe

Working time approx. 20 minutes / Rest time approx. 1 hour / Total time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes

Soak the washed vegan truffle in lukewarm water for about an hour and then pat dry. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and add salt.

In the meantime, mix the oil with the pressed garlic in a small saucepan over low heat until the oil is warm - do not simmer.

Grate about 3/4 of the vegan truffle in the oil and save the rest for later. Add a good pinch of salt.

Cook the pasta in slightly bubbly salted water until al dente and drain. Leave about 1/4 cup of pasta water and mix with the garlic-oil mixture and pour over the pasta.

Refine with salt and divide into the desired portion. Slice the leftover vegan truffle over the individual portions and serve.

The Trüffelhang.at team wishes you a good appetite