Where to Buy Black Truffles: Grower or Intermediary
Where to buy black truffles depends on how much you want, and on 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 sets out the usual routes and how a direct order from Teruel works.
The route a Spanish black truffle usually takes
Around 90 per cent of the Spanish harvest is exported fresh to France, where it is graded, packed and re-sold. A piece bought in a shop in London or New York has often travelled that loop first.
Every step of that loop is paid for by whoever buys at the end, and is a day further from the ground.
Who buys where in the trade
The wholesale circuit is made up of brokers, 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.
Neither buys the way a household buys, which is why the two conversations are kept apart here.
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 pieces. Not always, but often.
That is not a defect of the jar; it is what preserved formats are for. But a jar is not a substitute for a fresh piece, and the two should not be compared on price.
Buying direct from the grower in Teruel
The question of where to buy has one answer for ten grams and another for a hundred kilos.
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 sets out 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
- Tuber melanosporum: the Black Truffle
- Fresh Black Truffle, in Season December to April
- Black Truffle Wholesale — Direct from the Grower
- Black Truffle Price per Kilo
Is black truffle sold as French actually Spanish?
Often. Most of the Spanish harvest is exported fresh to France and re-sold 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. The available pieces and their real weight come back to you before you pay.
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