Ingredient: Nature's antidepressant: Truffled cheeses
Thanks to markys.com for this great pic of a wedge of Sottocenere di Tartufo.
Tartufo cheeses — cheeses with shavings of white or black truffle in them and/or treated with truffle bits or oils — are a heavenly thing indeed. They are not low sodium; there's only a couple of cheeses out there that are. However, even a small bit goes a long way, and at the prices they fetch, you can't really afford to overdo it. Fox & Obel sells the above Sottocenere di Tartufo for $30.00 per pound. I purchased a 4 oz. slice; I seem to find myself eating about a half of an ounce at any given treat session. Master cheesemonger Steven Jenkins describes it as “a Fontina-like cheese from the Veneto, liberally spiked with white truffle”; Fontina has about 225 mg of sodium per ounce, which means a half-ounce treat might have in the neighborhood of 110 mg of sodium — a big splurge, to be sure, but not the end of the earth, especially if one takes care with the rest of the day's intake.
But we're not here to talk about sodium right now. We're here to talk about creamy, earthy, melt-in-your-mouth slice of heaven that makes vicodin seem like a Good 'n Plenty. I started my obsession with these amazing cheeses when Osteria via Stato put a tartufo cheese into heavy rotation in their cheese selections. They are truly like drugs; after the first hit, I was hooked.
Interested in more? Try looking at this interesting list from mom-mom.com. I'll also post more experiences as I (slowly) work my way through the selections from the local specialty cheese departments.