Uncooked risotto? Wouldn't that just be "rice"?

Good point. Make that uncooked arborio rice. LV

I'll bet the aborio rice from the bit sells for $199 a pound next week...

I actually saw this the last time I was in Wegmans and had to take a double look!

Me too, Meg. I actually didn't realize that it would break down to about $25 - I thought it was the price per truffle. I might actually be tempted with that knowledge!

Although, there's the question of what the hell to do with the damned thing when just a few tiny shots of truffle oil are sufficient for anything I know how to make!

Thats actually not that bad. A few years back I think I recall they were $800 or $900

You fry an egg sunny side up in olive oil. Cover the white with serrano ham and shave black truffle on the yolk. Repeat until all the truffle is gone.

OFN

The fact that the produce manager knows so little about truffles is disturbing. You pretty much cannot just grow them. If you could - everybody would and they would be like $3.99 a lb versus $399. Probably from France.

AWH is correct; the price has actually come down quite a bit. Rob Kasper wrote about the pricey truffles a few years ago:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-04-19/news/0604180010_1_truffles-produce-department-wegmans

I'm sure they're from Oregon or elsewhere in the Pac NW. Finding a good truffle oil (as opposed to the more prevalent synthetic stuff) is probably a better option.

There's a chef out here who makes a good one from wild Oregon white truffles: http://www.oregontruffleoil.com/

I checked Phillips mushroom farms website and they don't mention a thing about truffles. Although, they do have an impressive line of gourmet mushrooms.

I've purchased black truffles at Wegman's before. They were terrible quality. When I informed the management, they were very apologetic over the phone and asked me to come in with the truffles. When I arrived, they dithered and finally did nothing, making me waste a trip, my time, and my money. In my opinion, the purchasing staff there knows nothing about truffles.

Caveat Emptor, I have not purchased truffles from Wegman's, but I once got some cut-up butternut squash that had gone slimy when I opened it up at home. I took it back and it was replaced pronto, no questions asked. I also got overcharged once at the seafood counter; I got raw scallops, but noticed when i got home that I had been charged for the cooked ones (roughly twice the price). Again, I got a refund with no argument.

Dahlink: your experience was what they'd suggested would happen on the phone, but when I arrived, they weren't able to locate a manager who could help, then someone came over and said there was nothing they could do. It was just frustrating. I'm no truffle novice. I lived near Alba for a while and I've cooked with white and black truffles. But they were selling what were, in my opinion, Chinese truffles at Périgord or Umbria prices. It's still a great supermarket, I just don't trust them on this subject.

Caveat Emptor, I bow to you on your superior knowledge of truffles. It's a shame you weren't able to talk to the Wegman's manager Wendy. In my experience she will go the extra mile to give you satisfaction.