Truffles , often referred to as the “ultimate mushroom,” are known for their earthy flavor and wallet-denting price (up to $4,000 per pound).

Organic truffle oil is a less expensive option, with different varieties available online and at well-stocked natural and organic food stores.

But read labels carefully. As Chef Daniel Patterson of San Francisco’s Coi Restaurant reports in the New York Times , some truffle oils lack even a hint of real truffle.

“Most commercial truffle oils are concocted by mixing olive oil with one or more compounds like 2,4-dithiapentane (the most prominent of the hundreds of aromatic molecules that make the flavor of white truffles so exciting) that have been created in a laboratory,” he writes.

The Food Network’s Pick 

The Food Network purchases USDA Certified organic truffle oil from da Rosario , a New York City-based company that sells organic truffle products to the U.S. market.

Owned by Rosario Safina, author of Truffles: Ultimate Luxury, Everyday Pleasures , da Rosario sources truffles from a small plot on an organic farm in Italy’s Umbrian Valley. Products include USDA Certified 100% organic: 

• Truffle-flavored olive oils (white and black truffle)
• Savory truffle seasonings (white and black truffle)
• Acacia honey with white truffles
• Truffle butters (white and black truffle)

“If the label says USDA 100% Certified Organic, you can bet there are real, organic truffle pieces inside,” Safina recently explained in The Daily Beast .

Chefs’ Recipes 

Celebrity chefs regularly use real truffle butter and/or oil in their favorite recipes. Check out:

1. Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten’s Roast Turkey with Truffle Butter
2. Iron Chef Bobby Flay’s Parmesan-Crusted Portobello Mushrooms with White Truffle Oil
3. Prolific restaurateur Emeril Lagasse’s rich Root Vegetable...