Seen at the Safeway:
That’s not a typo. At least GM doesn’t think so. What you see there is a locked case of truffles in the Safeway produce section selling for $999.99 per pound.
GM did a quick run through of the store to see if anything came close to this in terms of price. Only a few bottles of wine and champagne topped the multi-hundred dollar range, but nothing close to this.
Real truffles (unlike their chocolate counterparties) are a type of fungus found in the ground. Traditionally, pigs have been used to find the truffles. Despite this, people seem to like them. Or, at the very least, pay a ton of money for them.
That’s about the extent of GM’s knowledge of truffles. For those with more expensive tastes than he, would you really pay a cool grand a pound for truffles from Safeway?
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Do you get to keep the case?
In many cases, a grand for a lbs. is a good deal. If you’re at the library, check out: http://www.amazon.com/Truffles-Elisabeth-Luard/dp/0711224935/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280760201&sr=1-6 It’s fantastic.
Well, well. How many people go to Safeway for truffles? They have a limited shelf life. Even D&D has a tough time moving them within the window of their “freshness.” I’d rather Safeway concentrated on keeping the produce fresh and the staff well trained. But that’s me.
I still not convinced that those aren’t just rocks they dug up from Jelleff, with expectations that nobody would ever actually ask to buy them. I’d call their bluff, but I’m not so sure I’d be able to tell the difference between a $1,000 truffle and a rock.
Did you check the price of saffron threads? I just looked on-line and found the price of saffron threads generally is well over $10 per gram (I am told but have not confirmed that Safeway’s price on saffron threads is over $20 per gram) and there are over 453 grams per pound. At $20 per gram saffron is approaching $10,000 per pound, ten times higher than truffles. Bottom-line: Sorry, you’re not even close.
Truffles are expensive, but not that expensive. Especially when (according to Safeway’s tag), they are “Product of USA”. We make truffles worth that much!?
what the hell is going on with that? isn’t the whole point of buying american truffle that it only costs 1/10 as much because it’s all farmed? also how do I know if that is even still good – it’s not frozen…
the only american-grown truffles I’ve seen before are Oregon Truffle. they’re usually like $150 / pound – but premium white could get $240 / pound. Oregon black is like $250 / pound. By contrast truffle from Italy or France is $250 for just a few ounces. that’s because in Europe they are mainly chasing pigs and dogs in the woods, not farming planted crop.
I guess they figure if you know anything about truffles you prob. aren’t going to be buying them at safeway anyway.
truffles have a limited shelf life. at that price it’s hard to sell them before they go bad. that’s why most vendors sell them frozen. I have a hard time believing that safeway has that much turnover on truffles – especially considering that they are charging $999.99 / pound for american that is usually $150 / pound.
@Carol I couldn’t agree more!
Was there on Sunday and the staff stocking the shelves and produce section were more interested socializing than stocking – making navigating the store a challenge.
I guess I now understand what the social in Social Safeway means.
@Lee Northern Michigan is full of wild truffles. I’ve hunted truffles in the area before and they are quite tasty (no idea what the market rate is for them since I’ve never sold them).
Those appear to have already been ground up, which I would imagine cuts the shelf life to a matter of hours. In their original form they look like squishy walnuts.
no they are not ground up, usually the truffles are stored on a bed of rice to help with freshness
Truffles have been available in the same kind of locked case at VA-area Wegmans’ for years.
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