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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Black Truffle Honey

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Black truffle honeyAnyone who knows me will tell you I love food and history. This came about after thinking about truffles, and where they came from.

I’d just gotten a shipment of tuber brumale, and I wanted to preserve some of them as quick as possible. In the process I got to thinking about how the first documented truffles were on Egyptian hieroglyphs, and from there, the honey that was found in dessert tombs.

I didn’t know it, but truffle honey is actually a thing, and you can buy it frozen from a number of purveyors. If you’ve handled fresh truffles, you know they don’t last long-you have a couple days with their aroma at their peak, then it leaves, quickly.

Black truffle honey

With a good truffle, you only need a teeny amount to flavor enough honey for plenty of fun. Just two teaspoons gave me a great tasting pint.

You might be wondering what I mean by “good” truffle too. Others will beg to differ, but the old saying about money talking is really true with truffles. Cheap truffles from the American west coast are just that, they’re a far cry from the species hunted in Europe, which is why they’re a fraction of the price.

Like I mentioned, I was using Tuber brumale here, it’s a cheaper species of European truffle thought of as weed in patches of true black truffles, species like Tuber melanosporum, uncinatum, or aestetivum.

Tuber brumale is cheaper since it has a smoky quality in addition to the truffle aroma. The smokyness is noticeable, but not as strong as the truffle aroma. I don’t find the smoky taste offensive, it’s interesting, and from my experience, If I don’t tell them about the difference, people have no idea.

When you combine the strength of their aroma with the fact that you can purchase 1/4 lb of brumale for about 100$, it’s an economical truffle that anyone can enjoy for a special occasion. “true”black truffle species.  By comparison, black or white truffles from the American west coast will go for anywhere from 100-200/lb, where the pricey European species could be anywhere from 600-1200/lb, depending on the species. Rest assured, you get what you pay for.

Anyway, here’s some ways the honey would be great:

  • Drizzled on yoghurt, mascarpone, or another spreadable dairy
  • With some soft brie style cheese
  • Added at the last minute to a sauce for duck or poultry, especially one containing cream
  • Out of the jar with a spoon, when no one’s looking
  • Mixed with some acid, salt and pepper for a salad dressing
  • Stirred into the dairy base of a panna cotta, ice cream or sorbet
  • Mixed with chopped toasted nuts, like pistachios or almonds for a chunky condiment
  • In baklava
  • Mixed with a touch of wine or booze and used to soak a sponge cake
  • Lining the dish a cold custard or dessert will be poured into before setting (if you do it with panna cotta it will loosen and become a sauce when un-molded)
  • With fried chicken (think chicken nuggets from your childhood)

Here’s the basic method, and one of my favorite ways I’ve used it.

Black truffle honey

Black truffle honey
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Black Truffle Infused Honey

Yield: 1 pint
Prep Time5 mins
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Black Truffle, Truffle Honey

Ingredients

  • 2 cups honey
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh black truffle

Instructions

  • Combine the honey and the minced black truffle in a mason jar or another airtight container. Label, date, and refrigerate or freeze until needed.

Notes

You need to keep this cold to preserve the truffle's aroma. Even so, after a week in the fridge it will lose some of it's potency, so for long term storage you can freeze it, preferably in a plastic container. It goes without saying the truffles need to be as fresh as possible for the best result.
Fried chicken wings with black truffle honey
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Wings With Black Truffle Honey

Serves 4-6
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: American, French
Keyword: Black Truffle, Fried Chicken Wings, Honey

Ingredients

  • 4 lbs whole chicken wings
  • Half a gallon of buttermilk
  • 1 gallon oil for deep frying like grapeseed, rice bran, lard, etc, (you can use more or less depending on the size of the pan you use, I was using large stainless steel stockpot.)
  • Black truffle honey as needed (see recipe above)
  • For the dredge
  • All purpose flour as needed, 8 cups should do
  • Kosher salt
  • Paprika
  • Fresh ground white pepper
  • Cayenne
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder

Instructions

  • Season the flour to taste with the spices. Soak the chicken in buttermilk for a couple hours. In a pinch, you can just toss them in butter milk and then straight into the flour though. Make sure to test one of the wings first, then if you need to add more seasonings to the dredge you can do so.
  • Using a thermometer, heat the oil to 350 degrees. When the oil is hot, add the chicken wings in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot, which will lower the temperature, also, if they touch too much, the crispy coating can rub off during cooking. If you notice the oil drop signifantly in temperature, you can increase the heat a bit, but try to keep it at a steady 350.
  • Cook the chicken wings until golden brown and cooked throughout, then remove and allow to rest in a warm (Not hot) oven on paper towels placed on a cookie sheet to absorb oil while you cook the next few batches of wings. As they chicken wings come out of the hot oil, sprinkle them with a little kosher salt, since the oil helps it stick.
  • When all the wings are cooked, serve immediately drizzled with the truffle honey, or pass it alongside.

Notes

I usually try to give exact proportions to you, but I don't use a recipe when I make these. I just season the flour to taste, it's hard to mess things up unless you get really happy with the cayenne.

Fried chicken wings with black truffle honey

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rachel Collins

    June 27, 2015 at 10:48 am

    Well done Chef. Soignee!

    Reply
  2. GEORGE KARIPIDIS

    December 17, 2020 at 8:49 am

    5 stars
    fantastic!!!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Five ways with truffle honey - Flavour Seeker says:
    April 2, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    […] his culinary journal and blog, Forager Chef, Alan Bergo uses truffle honey in this recipe for Buttermilk fried chicken wings with black truffle honey, which sounds […]

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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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