Truffle Hunt Yields Flavors and Fun
By Victor Block
Nadine was excited. She scampered along a haphazard route, pausing now and then to sniff at the ground. Occasionally she began to dig in the dirt, her breath quickening and eyes widening. But she was not permitted to complete the excavation she had begun. That task was finished by Vanessa, who distracted Nadine with a tasty treat and used a trowel to discover -- and uncover -- the object of their search.
Nadine is a dog, but she's no ordinary canine. She is trained to find truffles, and I recently accompanied her and her handler, Vanessa Shea, on a hunt for those elusive, rather unattractive fungi that more than make up in value what they might lack in appearance.
Our quest took place at Virginia Truffles, a family-owned enterprise in that state, but truffles are grown in orchards that span the country from Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee to Idaho, Oregon and California. The North American Truffle Growers Association estimates the number to be as high as 400.
My experience began with an introduction to everything truffle delivered around a blazing fire pit by Vanessa, her sister Olivia and their mother, Patrice. My fellow adventurers and I benefitted from our hosts' encyclopedic knowledge, which included historic facts, truffle tidbits and recipes for using these highly prized gastronomic gems in a variety of ways.
Who knew, for example, that truffles were prized at the time of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires; that the medieval Catholic Church largely banned consumption of "the devil's fruit"; and that they were a favorite food of French Queen Catherine de Medici and King Louis XIV?
Modern truffling is said to have evolved when French farmers observed pigs uprooting a favorite food, and then trained them for the hunt. Because pigs love truffles, however, they often consumed their prize before the farmer could rescue it. Trackers began training dogs, who happily work for canine treats.
The object of the hunt is an edible fungus that grows several inches underground beneath tree branches. Favorite hosts are oak and hazelnut trees. Truffle farmers can wait for as long as 10 years after planting their seedlings before they get their first harvest. Then the crop is retrieved during a truncated harvesting time of only a few months. It turns out that raising the subterranean fungus is as much an art as a science and also qualifies as a labor of love.
Love between human and dog was evident as I followed Nadine and Vanessa, walking rapidly through the orchard with Vanessa repeating the mantra "Where's the truffle?" Our trek, which lasted a little over an hour, produced five.
A post-hunt mini buffet included carrot soup, deviled eggs, pastrami and brie cheese, all enhanced with fresh truffle shavings or slices. While the earthy, pungent odor of the tubers that Nadine unearthed was almost too strong for my sense of smell and taste buds, the hints of truffle in the food added a unique dimension that I found easy to enjoy but difficult to describe.
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