Delectable truffles are taking root across N.C.
By Michael Hastings
JOURNAL FOOD EDITOR
Friday, January 19, 2007
Someone reading the first paragraph of last week's story about Martha Stewart
coming to Stokes County in search of truffles might have been momentarily
confused.
Why would Stewart come all this way for some chocolate?
Well, there are two kinds of truffles - one made of chocolate, the other of fungi. In
fact, the chocolate-ball truffles are named after the fungi.
A truffle is a fungus whose fruiting body grows underground. The filaments of the
fungus link up with tree roots, so truffles typically are found growing around trees,
particularly oak, filbert, chestnut, hazel and beech. Because they are hidden
underground, truffle farmers use pigs or dogs to sniff them out - a labor-intensive
harvesting method that helps account for their high cost.
Pigs tend to be better at finding truffles, but they also tend to eat them. So farmers
often favor dogs, which are less likely to consume the valuable crop.
Most truffles grow 3 to 12 inches in diameter. An average one weighs 1 1/2 to 2
ounces, about the size of a walnut. They are irregularly shaped, though roughly
round. The thick, rough skin looks wrinkled and can be off-white to brownish black.
Truffles come in almost 70 varieties. Black truffles, especially black Perigords, are
the most esteemed. Next come white truffles.
Most truffles come from France, Italy and Spain. Spain and France are known for
black truffles. Italy's Piedmont region is known for white truffles.
Truffles are sold fresh and preserved. The latter, in jars or cans, are much more
readily available and less expensive.
Imported fresh imported truffles can easily run from $100 to $300 an ounce.
Preserved whole truffles often run about $40 to $70 an ounce. Online sources for
imported truffles include www.urbanitruffles.com, http://sabatinotartufi.com,
www.trufflemarket.com and www.deananddeluca.com.
Companies also sell less expensive preserved shaved truffles, dried truffle powder,
and truffle oil.
Because truffles are so expensive, they are used sparingly in dishes, in ways that
show them off to great effect. People who get their hands on fresh black truffles
(whose outer skins must be peeled) often shave bits of them into scrambled eggs or
omelets, because the eggs make a great backdrop, allowing the diner to really taste
the flavor of the truffles.
Black truffles also show well in polenta and risotto dishes.
Black truffles are often simmered with Madeira, a fortified wine, to make perigueux,
a brown sauce that can accompany meat, game, eggs or poultry.
White truffles have a milder flavor, and shavings of raw white truffles are often
added at the last minute to pasta dishes.
White truffles are generally harvested in the fall. Black truffles are harvested in the
late fall and winter.
Though France and Italy dominate the truffle market, some truffles are grown in the
United States, including North Carolina. They don't grow here naturally, though, so
they must be cultivated.
Rick Smith and Jane Morgan Smith started Keep Your Fork Farm
(www.keepyourforkfarm.com), where Stewart visited, a few years ago with shiitake
mushrooms. They planted filbert trees with black Perigord truffle fungus in October
2000.
Once the trees are planted, it takes five to six years before a farmer can harvest his
first truffles. The Smiths harvested their first truffle on Nov. 24.
"It's just about the most exciting thing I've ever been involved in in my life," Jane
Morgan Smith said of truffle farming.
She has harvested just two pounds from their first plot of 120 filbert (hazelnut)
trees. They've sold them to individuals, the Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill, and
Noble's Grille in Winston-Salem.
"I'm waiting till we get a significantly broader harvest to advertise," she said.
A mature orchard can produce about 75 pounds of truffles a year for each acre of
500 trees, said Frank Garland of Garland Gourmet in Hillsborough
(www.garlandtruffles.com).
Garland is considered the first farmer to cultivate black truffles in North Carolina. He
had his first harvest in 1992. Now part of his business is helping other truffle farmers
get started, by selling them tree seedlings that have truffle fungus growing on them.
Garland said that the average wholesale price for U.S. truffles is about $800 a
pound. That works out to $50 an ounce, which is what Smith charges for her truffles.
In 2004, The Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, which is financed with tobaccosettlement money, gave out grants worth $235,000 to help 50 North Carolina
farmers get into the truffle business.
"The mid-Atlantic states are probably the best place in the United States to grow
truffles, because we are at the same latitude as northern Spain and Italy where the
big orchards are," Smith said.
Garland estimates that North Carolina has about 75 active truffle orchards. He has
been expanding with more orchards, including 25 acres in Yadkin County.
"The demand is there," he said. "Once you have them, people just want more truffles
and more truffles."
Garland sold the trees to Smith, and referred Stewart to Keep Your Fork Farm. He
even came to the farm last week with his truffle-sniffing poodle, Ginger, to hunt
truffles with Stewart.
"By the way," he said, "I don't know how billionaires usually are, but Martha Stewart
was very nice - delightful."
• Michael Hastings can be reached at 727-7394 or at mhastings@wsjournal.com.
This story can be found at: http://www.journalnow.com
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