Truffle Love: certified organic oils and honey with black and white truffles

Rosario Safina grew up in Brooklyn and used his business degree to work for gourmet mail order catalogs. His first truffle experience? Eating pre-cooked white truffle scraps straight from the jar...in a word: disappointing. "I was a bit perplexed," Rosario says. "It tasted like a sponge soaked in chicken broth and dirty feet."

That first impression didn't last long after Rosario met a 79 year old Italian man living in New Jersey. He imported fresh truffles from Italy during the peak of their early, early spring season. As the old Italian cut light-catching shavings from a fresh white truffle, he talked about not having any children to teach his tradition. Rosario listened...and ate. The meal and the old man's stories changed Rosario's opinion of truffles and his future. "It was a world of difference," he remembers.

After learning to hunt truffles in Italy and navigate the business of bringing them into the U.S., Rosario started distributing his prizes from the back of his car. "I'd pick them up from the airport, load them into the back of the station wagon, and go directly to the restaurants."

Today Rosario bring us the only certified organic products using real truffles. His organic olive oils infused with black or white truffles or porcini are gathering national attention for their complexity of flavor and extraordinary quality at reasonable prices. Just a couple drops on simple, lovingly prepared dishes is a transformation. Seared skirt steak, toasted cheese, mashed potatoes, even pop corn...the dishes don't have to be complex, but prepared with care and dressed with da Rosario truffle oils, the whirl of flavors makes a luxury of dinner.

Rosario's Organic White Truffle Acacia Honey will be featured during the Wine & Chocolate Tasting we're hosting this Friday evening, but it's on our shelves now, too. Just a little dollop is decadent over nutty cheeses, vanilla bean gelato, or drizzled down a seared duck breast.
Stop by the Enoteca for a complimentary sample of Rosario's truffle and porcini oils.