Fungi has been becoming one of the food enhancers and it is widely used in the Food Industries. It contains nucleotides, asam amino & protein which serves umami taste in our tongue. Yeast, a one cell Fungi is dominantly used for this; Saccharomyces cerevisiae which is familiar used as for fermentation process in food and beverage. The Yeast is disrupted by a variety of processes; mechanical disruption, enzymatic lysis, organic solvents etc. and all content in the cell becomes Yeast Extract.
Did you know, currently there is another species Fungi that food industries in Indonesia are interested in using it. That is Truffle. Let’s discuss it.
Commonly we know fungi in the form of Mushroom (basidium) which is one characteristic of Basidiomycota. On the other hand, Truffle is one of Fungi that belong to Ascomycota, it has Truffle; a fruiting body that has irregular round shape that lives in ground (hypogeous).
Truffles have unique and strong aroma which makes them different to other species of Fungi.
In its original country; Europe, the uniqueness of Truffles has made chefs interested in using it as seasoning for pasta, spaghetti, pizza, soup and other dishes. Mixed with cheese, potato and bread, Truffles make dishes more flavored and tasty.
Aroma Truffles is the mixture of several volatile compounds. Feng et al (2019) said around 43-44 volatile compounds have been found in three varieties of Truffles in Yunnan, China. But only 24 volatile compounds were considered to contribute to the aroma of Truffle.
Unfortunately, because it is hard to cultivate, at the same time demand for it is also increasing, the price for 1 Kg rising extremely high. To overcome this many scientists around the world in Europe and Asia do research on how to cultivate it. It is found that Truffles can live in the root of Oak Tree & Pinus Tree ; symbiosis mutualism. However, to overcome the price, flavor houses around the world have been trying to create the flavor of Truffles.
In Indonesia, Truffle Seasoning has been in demand. Some food companies start to use it on their products. If we look into the markets, we can find that Truffle seasonings are applied for many kinds of food products; snack, instant noodle, meat process and instant sauce. We have tried our seasoning Truffle to people vary from young generation until old generation. We have realized that eating a snack with Truffle seasoning can be likened to eating Durian which has a unique aroma also. We will be separated into two groups after eating it; like it or dislike it.
Following the trend, NP Foods Indonesia actively develops variants seasoning Truffle that can be applied to snack, instant noodle, meat process for Food Industry and Horeca Market. We also have developed instant sauce of Seasoning Truffles. We found a new dressing ; Truffles profile in addition to those that are already in the market ; tomato, chili, mayonnaise and cheese.
For you guys that came from the Food Industry, we can provide and help you in terms of developing Seasoning Truffles that are authentic and unique for your products.
References :
Feng, T., Shui, M., Song, S., Zhuang, H., Sun, M., & Yao, L., 2019, Characterization of the key aroma compounds in three Truffle varieties from China, China: Molecules MDPI.
Tao, Z., Yuan, H., Liu, M., et al, 2022, Yeast extract: characteristics, production, applications and future perspectives, Korea: J Microbiol Biotechnol.
Zhang, X. dkk, 2020, Colonization by Tuber melanosporum and Tuber indicum affects the growth of Pinus armandii and phoD alkaline phosphatase encoding bacterial community in the rhizosphere, China: Science Direct.