A chocolate truffle is a Frenchchocolateconfectionery[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]
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]
