Chocolate truffle explained

Chocolate truffle
Type:	Confection
Main Ingredient:	Chocolate ganache, chocolate or cocoa powder
Place Of Origin:	France

A chocolate truffle is a French chocolate confectionery^[1] traditionally made with a chocolate ganache centre and coated in cocoa powder, coconut, or chopped nuts. A chocolate truffle is handrolled into a spherical or ball shape.^[2] The name derives from the chocolate truffle's similarity in appearance to truffles, a tuber fungus.^[2] It was created in the city of Chambéry by the pastry chef Louis Dufour.^{[3] [4]}

Varieties

Over the years, many varieties appeared under different names :

• The French truffle, made with fresh cream and chocolate, and then rolled in cocoa or nut powder.^[5]
• The Swiss truffle, made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder. Like the French truffles, these have a very short shelf life and must be consumed within a few days of making.^[6]
• The Spanish truffle, prepared with dark chocolate, condensed milk, rum (or any preferred liqueur), and chocolate sprinkles.^[7]
• The typical European truffle, made with syrup and a base of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type of emulsion.^[8]
• The American truffle, a half-oval-shaped, chocolate-coated truffle, a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat, and in some cases, hardened coconut oil. Joseph Schmidt, a San Francisco chocolatier and founder of Joseph Schmidt Confections, is credited with its creation in the mid-1980s.^[9]

Other styles include:

• The Belgian truffle or praline, made with dark or milk chocolate filled with ganache, buttercream, or nut pastes.^[10]
• The Californian truffle, a larger, lumpier version of the French truffle, first made by Alice Medrich in 1973 after she tasted truffles in France. She sold these larger truffles in a charcuterie in the Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood of Berkeley; then, in 1977, she began selling them in her own store, Cocolat, which soon expanded into a chain. Medrich is largely credited for starting the American craze for truffles.^[11]

See also

• Bourbon ball
• Brigadeiro
• Chokladboll
• Rum ball

Notes and References

1. Book: Chrystal, Paul . The History of Sweets . 2021-06-30 . Pen and Sword History . 978-1-5267-7886-4 . en.
2. Web site: Truffle. chocolateglossary.com. July 16, 2023.
3. Book: Esser-Simons, Myriam . Balade culinaire à travers les siècles illustrée de nombreuses recettes - Tome VI (deuxième partie): Depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'à nos jours - Les entremets sucrés et les desserts . 2019-01-09 . Editions Edilivre . 978-2-414-30942-9 . fr.
4. Book: Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia . 2001 . Clarkson Potter . en.
5. Web site: Franklin. Rebecca. Totally Indulgent Traditional French Dark Chocolate Truffles - Yum. 2020-11-16. The Spruce Eats. en.
6. Chocolate, Cocoa, and Confectionery: Science and Technology by Bernard W. Minifie (1999), page 545.
7. Web site: Kroeger. Tim. 2021-06-04. Spanish Trufas de Chocolate Recipe (Chocolate Truffles). SpanishFoodGuide.com. 2021-06-04. en-US.
8. Web site: Chocolate Truffle - Homemade Chocolate Truffle Recipe. cult.fit. 4 June 2021.
9. http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-choco8feb08,1,608541.story?page=2&coll=la-headlines-pe-food "Sweet surrender", Los Angeles Times
10. Web site: Pralines VS Truffles. Makingchocolates.wordpress.com . 2011-04-16 . 2013-05-27.
11. News: Madam Cocolat . Barron . Cheryll Aimee . September 25, 1988 . The New York Times.