DRIED BLACK TRUFFLES

Black Truffles: While there are many truffle varieties growing in countries all over the world, black truffles (Tuber Melanosporium) known in France as the Divine Tubercule and The Black Diamond of French Cuisine, are the most famous truffles in the world and due to their scarcity, can command very high prices in the marketplace. Truffles are the best known underground fungi because of their reputation for excellence in cuisine, being savored in Italian and French dishes for its aromatic, richly mysterious flavor. The limestone plateau regions of Perigord in the southwest of France, and Magny are the world-famous homes of these prized fungi, but are also found southeast of France, in Italy and Spain and are well known for flavoring pate de foie gras. White truffles gathered in Alba, Italy, are highly valued as well and are also dear in price. There are well over 60 different varieties of truffle and some do grow wild in the United States, but the two choice varieties are unequivocally the black and white truffles mentioned here, native only to specific regions of Europe. The unusual flavor of a truffle is pervasive in a enigmatic way; this breathtaking subtlety of taste, its penetrating, sweet musty odor is one of the reasons that truffles are so prized by mushroom lovers.

The truffle business is a chancy thing and so is the supply - this difficulty partly explains why the price and crop amount varies so much from year to year. From spore to maturity the truffle takes 10-12 years to reach full flavor (truffles remain underground even after maturing) and that, plus their short growing season and large demand, easily explains why they're so expensive. So, as a result of the delicate and always uncertain nature of the harvest, much folklore is associated with truffles. A practice long used in France is called "avec la mouche", that is "with the fly", or, watching for the swarms of flies that hover above the ripe buried truffle to tip off the hunters of the hidden treasure. Traditionally pigs were used to locate them with their acute sense of smell, but lately are replaced by dogs who have been trained to indicate with their paw the place where they scent the truffle underground. Dogs are more reliable and less likely to damage or swallow the black diamond, unlike the pig who is quite fond of them as well as clumsy in its search. Also, the pig is difficult to transport, hard to discipline, and tires rather quickly of the project. It is not instinctual nature for any particular type of dog to look for truffles; moreover, hunting dogs are not used for the task, as their inclination would be to sense game rather than truffles. Dogs train easily however, and generally do the job well, but their attention is only good for about an hour and a half. The truffle emits a steroid similar in odor to a boar's pre-mating sex pheromone, explaining the female pig's strong attraction to and natural seeking of the truffle through its keen sense of smell. Recent evidence has shown that the truffle's special chemistry may also be related to a hormone present in the human male sweat glands, perhaps explaining why people have persistently sought them out as well! The future of truffle hunting may someday depend on an "electronic nose," currently under development in the United States and France. In any event, the illusive truffle has created a following and a folklore because they are such a rare and delicious, unique fungi.

Truffles grow naturally in woodlands, their presence indicated by the lack of plant life at the base of the "truffle tree"- these bare areas are referred to as terre brulé or "burned ground". Truffles start to grow in spring and summer, 6 to 12 inches below ground, on the roots of sycamore, beech trees, or certain species of European oak and are harvested from December through February. Because of its desirability and scarcity, effective truffle cultivation would be very profitable; however, fungi that form mycorrhizae can not be cultivated with the common methods because of their obligate relationship with the roots of trees. Therefore, a different and more difficult strategy was required to "grow" truffles. "Cultivating" truffles requires a good deal of suitable land where the host trees can be planted; T. melanosporum ( the black winter truffle ) will only grow where its host tree can grow. To ensure truffle formation, the mycelium of the truffle is inoculated into the roots of these trees. They then grow underground and form mycorrhizae with those particular species it favors. The most successful technique involves planting trees already inoculated with the melanosporum spores in habitats that already produce truffles. Unfortunately, the environmental and nutritional necessities for formation of fruitbodies of truffles are not fully understood. Climate and soil conditions need to be ideal - truffles thrive in a pH of 7.8 to 8.1. Furthermore, truffle production in non-native habitats is hindered by thousands of competing fungi. As of yet, they have not been successfully cultivated in large quantities and are obviously a challenge to forage in the wild.

In America, attempts to farm truffles in Texas have to date largely failed. There may be potential for a fine substitute in California and from Oregon come reports of promising success with white truffles. Cultivation attempts have yielded less aromatic truffles with nowhere near the flavor of the wild fungus. So with European truffle production having dropped from about 1,000 tons annually 100 years ago, to 10-60 tons a year today, this well could mark the beginning of a new industry in the South, where agricultural experts are considering adding truffles to the list of possible alternative crops for tobacco farmers. If the U.S. can grow truffles profitably, there would be an distinct advantage for American consumers over the purchase of French truffles, simply from a freshness standpoint.

The shape of a truffle is an irregular spheroid with a lumpy, faceted surface, often described as warty, rough, or ridged skin. The color is blue-black with fine whitish veins embedded inside and a fleshy texture. The flavor of truffles should be given center stage in recipes. Delicious in soups or chopped and sautéed for flavoring sauces particularly those made with white wine or Champagne, and are often served with pasta. You can grate raw truffles into salads. Use slices sparingly however - they are potent as well as expensive! Their flavor is complex, so truffles work best in delicately flavored dishes like cream sauces. The black truffle of Perigord and the white truffle of Piedmont are highly prized for their exceptional taste: the black excells after cooking has accomplished the full release of flavors. Conversely, the white truffle is best when shaved directly on the dish before eating. The aroma of truffles is intense enough to penetrate egg shells when the two are stored together, embuing an omelette with the truffle essence even before its cooked!

To use a truffle, brush the dirt away or run the truffle under cool water briefly. Truffles are highly perishable, so you should plan to use them within a few days after buying them. Adding slices to bourbon will preserve them - then use the bourbon and truffle pieces to flavor sauces. Fresh truffles keep well in and are often sold in containers filled with rice. Don't discard the rice--it was put there to absorb some of the truffle's exquisite flavor. If you are fortunate enough to encounter the real thing, enjoy it raw, cooked, or in the form of juice or extract.

TRUFFLE LORE:

Pliny, the Elder, a naturalist and writer of the first century A.D. who, apparently well acquainted with truffles - regarded as beyond a doubt the very greatest of all marvels of nature the fact that any plant should spring up and grow without a root. Of the different truffles, Pliny says, "There are two kinds of them, the one full of sand, and consequently injurious to the teeth, the other free from sand and all impurities. They are distinguished by their colour, which is red, or black, or white within: those of Africa are the most esteemed. " In medieval Baghdad, desert truffles were well known and highly revered. These truffles might well have come from the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, an area that is even known today for its wealth of truffle mines. The white truffle which the Greeks and Romans obtained also from Lesbos and Carthage is the "terfez" of the Arabs of North Africa, the "kames" of those of Eastern Asia. A travel writer of the 1500's mentions the sight of sometimes up to 25-30 camels laden with truffles grown in the mountains of Armenia and Turkey, transported over long distances to be sold in the markets of Damascus. The ancient Babylonians were enamored of truffles, where they were found in large quantities at certain seasons of the year, growing on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers; considered by the Bedouins a great delicacy, truffles and mushrooms would form the staple food for the desert tent-dweller and family for long periods at a time.

Other interesting folklore of the mysterious truffle is linked to the ancients: Dioscorides thought them tuberous roots, Juvenal attributed them to thunder and rain and Athenaeus believed their number and size was proportionate to the number and force of thunder claps. While Cicero considered them children of the earth, Porphyrus called them children of the gods. The ancients dedicated the truffle to Venus, believing it to make women more tender and men more companionable. Bearing no resemblance to fruit, vegetable, mineral or animal, the ancients were finally provoked by curiosity to dig into the soil for further explanation of the mysterious mushroom's secret. In that way, they discovered the underground prize of the truffle, while still holding onto their original mystical beliefs. In the 1st century A.D, the author Plutarch drew a more earthy conclusion, stating that truffles were "mud cooked by lightning'' seeing it as a conglomeration resulting from the mixed effects of lightening, warmth and water on the soil. Early scientists countered with the proposal that they were the less-than-holy result of stag's urine. For years these kinds of hypotheses and deliberations overshadowed the logic that, in fact a combination of Mother Nature's miracles of warm weather, darkness and moisture bring the mushroom to life as the fruiting body of an underground plant.

In France, truffles were unknown until the 14th century. Like many other foods at that time that were unfamiliar to Europeans, truffles were believed to possess powerful aphrodisiac abilities. A colorful folk legend is told of the Duke of Clarence, recounting his marriage to an Italian woman whose dowry was of the hills of Alba, Italy - an area rich with truffles. On his wedding night he was said to have eaten so many truffles, referred to as "white diamonds," that he died before enjoying their magical abilities. Today the cost prohitiveness of the truffle would likely take care of such an untimely end resulting!

 

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