Comparative Analysis of the Volatile Profile of 20 Commercial Samples of Truffles, Truffle Sauces, and Truffle-Flavored Oils by Using HS-SPME-GC-MS Elisabetta Torregiani 1 & Sophie Lorier 1 & Gianni Sagratini 1 & Filippo Maggi 1 & Sauro Vittori 1 & Giovanni Caprioli 1 Received: 19 September 2016 /Accepted: 6 December 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract The aroma profile of raw truffles, of truffle sauces, and of natural and artificial truffle flavored oils made from or made to imitate Tuber magnatum, Tuber melanosporum, and Tuber aestivum was characterized by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Both naturally and artificially made oils were not only mainly dominated by bis(methylthio)methane (BMTM), a marker compound typical of white truffle, but also found in most of the oil samples flavored with black truffle. BMTM was not detected or detected in low amounts in black truffles but was very high in sauces (59.74–77.691%); instead, 1-octen-3-ol was high in truffles (35.227–75.208%) but low in sauces. Along the same lines, terpenoid compounds such as α- cubebene, copaene, caryophyllene, α-caryophyllene, and α- farnesene were not detected at all in T. aestivum raw truffle but were present in most truffle sauces. Thus, it was found that neither the natural nor the artificial truffle oil samples adequate- ly replicated the aromas of the species of truffle examined, and this was confirmed by principal component analysis (PCA). Keywords Truffle . Truffle flavored oils . Truffle sauces . HS-SPME . GC-MS Abbreviations HS Headspace SPME Solid-phase microextraction GC Gas chromatography MS Mass spectrometry VOC Volatile organic compound Introduction Truffles (Tuber spp.) are part of the ascomycota phylum of the fungi kingdom and they are found underground, growing as symbionts with specific trees by forming ectomycorrhizae (Gioacchini et al. 2008). They are high- ly prized by local people and food connoisseurs world- wide for the unique aromas they add to dishes. However, their cultivation is hard to control and depends on many factors, such as soil conditions, temperature, humidity, and the surrounding flora and fauna (March et al. 2006), and consequently, truffles are among the most expensive foodstuffs in the world, costing as much as 600€ to 6000€ per kilogram (Wang and Marcone 2011). Tuber magnatum (white truffle) is considered to have the most complex aroma and is thus more expensive than Tuber melanosporum (black truffle) and Tuber aestivum (summer truffle), the latter being the least flavorful and most readily available truffle (Diaz et al. 2003). These three most common truffles in Europe are found mainly in Mediterranean regions, notably Italy, France, and Spain (Culleré et al. 2010; Diaz et al. 2002), and they are also the most studied (Wang and Marcone 2011). Other truffles worth mentioning include a ‘whitish’ truf- fle from Italy, Tuber borchii; two black truffles, Tuber indicum (Chinese truffle) and Tuber brumale; and desert truffles such as Terfezia and Tirmania (Wang and Marcone 2011). All Tuber spp. have been studied for a variety of reasons ranging from their nutritional compo- sition to anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and * Giovanni Caprioli giovanni.caprioli@unicam.it 1 School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Via Sant’Agostino 1, 62032 Camerino, Italy Food Anal. Methods DOI 10.1007/s12161-016-0749-2