Truffles

Summary

Known as the diamonds of the culinary world, truffles are prized all over the world for their pungent aroma and distinct flavor.

Contents

Truffles grow only in the fall and winter, and only in a very few regions where temperatures and rainfall are just right. For black truffles, the growing season runs from November to March; for white truffles, it’s generally September to early January. A short season makes truffles all the more valuable, causing farmers across Italy and France to go into a truffle frenzy to find these delicious tubers. France is most famous for its black truffle, or the Perigord Truffle, while Italy has been culinary blessed with the white truffle, also known the Piedmont or Alba Truffle.

Although France is reputed to have the best black truffles and Italy, the best white truffles, they also grow in other parts of the world, including the west coast of North America, from northern California through British Columbia

The Pristine family's Cheese Boutique is famous among Toronto foodie cognoscenti, not in the least for its famous shipment of fresh truffles. Since the family imports the truffles themselves from the source, without going through a middle man, they are able to keep costs down and quality up.

Truffles quickly lose their flavor after harvesting, and experts agree that it’s best to consume them within a few days after they’re removed from the ground. (Black truffles, by the way, release more aroma when heated, whereas heat destroys the flavor of white truffles. So truffle aficionados are always careful to match recipes to the available truffle varieties.)

truffle dogs are trained in several steps. First, the dog is taught to retrieve a rubber ball. Next, a small bit of smelly Gorgonzola cheese is substituted for the rubber ball. After the dog has learned to retrieve the cheese, the cheese is hidden, forcing the dog to sniff it out for a reward of food. Finally, a small truffle is substituted for the cheese. The dog is trained to fetch, then dig up the truffle.

Dogs like other food better than truffles, so bread and other treats are used for rewards. The night before a truffle hunt the dog is not fed so it will be eager to find truffles for the treat. Some dogs take the easy way out. They find and eat garbage buried by campers! Dogs generally do not find young truffles because the odor is too weak. The odor becomes stronger with age as the spores mature.

A professional truffle hunter in Italy is called a trifolau. The value of commercial truffles means that there are laws controlling their collection. In Italy, for example, truffle collectors are tested and licensed. There, organizations of land owners called cooperatives control truffle hunting on their property. Unless you are a member of the cooperative, you can be arrested for collecting truffles from cooperative truffle beds.

In North America, truffle collectors use three major clues to find truffles. First, it must be warm and the soil moist. Truffles are often found 10 to 14 days after a heavy rain. The umbrella shaped mushrooms which pop up after a good rain can be used as a kind of clock. Look for truffles after these mushrooms have started to collapse.

Second, the right trees must be present. Truffles are formed by fungi that are partners (ectomycorrhizal) with certain trees. You will not find truffles under maples, for instance, because maples do not form ectomycorrhizae. Trees to use as clues include: pines, firs, Douglas-fir, oaks, hazel nuts, hickories, birches, beeches, and eucalyptus.

Third, truffles use animals for spore dispersal. In North America, squirrels and chipmunks are the major wild animals dispersing truffle spores. Search among the right trees for pits dug by rodents in their own hunt for truffles. Pits do not guarantee success, however! Rodents also dig pits searching for acorns, onion bulbs, and beetle grubs.

The best success results from raking around fresh pits. Look for pits not filled with leaves or other debris. I use a four-tine garden cultivator with the handle shortened to 30 inches to rake leaves off the surface and dig into the soil 3 or 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) . A good eye is required as many truffles are small and colored red, brown, white, or even black.


Dogs as well as pigs are used to hunt truffles; pigs are more eager to find the prizes, but it can be difficult to keep the pig from devouring the truffle. Only sows are used - the smell of Italian white truffles (Tuber magnatum Pico) contains pheromones that are attractive to female pigs, but not to boars.

1. http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/funfacts/Truffind.htm
2. http://itotd.com/articles/203/truffles/