Where to Buy Black Truffles: Grower or Intermediary
Where to buy truffles depends on how much you want and how many hands you are willing to pay for between the ground and your kitchen.
Most Spanish black truffle passes through at least one intermediary before it is sold, usually in France. Buying from the grower removes that step.
This page explains the usual routes and how a direct order from Teruel works.
The route a Spanish truffle usually takes
Spain grows around 120 tonnes of black truffle a year, against roughly 40 in France, and Teruel accounts for about 80 per cent of world production.
Around 90 per cent of that Spanish harvest is exported fresh to France, where it is graded, packed and re-sold. A truffle bought in a shop in London or New York has often travelled that loop first.
Who buys where, according to the trade
The wholesale circuit for black truffle is made up of brokers and intermediaries, wholesale distributors and restaurateurs, with the preserving industry absorbing what does not sell fresh. A restaurant asks for a calibre and weekly regularity; a wholesaler asks for volume sorted by grade.
What the supermarket jar usually contains
A grower puts it plainly: much of the truffle product seen in supermarkets is made from the lowest grade, meaning broken truffle. Not always, but often.
That is not a defect of the jar. It is what preserved formats are for. It does mean that a jar is not a substitute for a fresh piece, and that the two should not be compared on price.
Buying direct from the grower in Teruel
The question of where to buy has a different answer for ten grams and for a hundred kilos. A household order and a trade order are two conversations, and this site keeps them apart.
For a household order, the grade, the weight and the date are agreed with you, and each piece is confirmed with its real weight before payment.
For kilos, the wholesale page describes grades, quantities and how a trade quotation is given against the current harvest.
- Household orders: whole pieces by weight, grade stated.
- Trade orders: by the kilo, graded at origin.
- Destination confirmed at the time of ordering, before anything ships.
Related pages:
- Buy Black Truffle Direct from the Grower
- Fresh Black Truffle, in Season December to April
- Buy Black Truffles Online, by Weight
- Black Truffle Wholesale — Direct from the Grower
- Black Truffle Price per Kilo
Is truffle sold as French actually Spanish?
Often. Around 90 per cent of the Spanish harvest is exported fresh to France and re-sold from there. The species is the same, Tuber melanosporum; the origin label is what changes.
Can I buy a small amount direct from the grower?
Yes. Household orders are sold by weight as whole pieces, with the grade stated and the real weight confirmed before payment.
Buy black truffle without the detour
Tell us how much you want, which grade and when. You get the available pieces and their real weight back before you pay.
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