Truffles

Truffles – when I first learnt about them from my friend Patricia, last year in Bordeaux, I thought to myself, “Ridiculous! Such a high price for a tiny little underground mushroom! The things people pass off as ‘delicacies’!” For Christmas dinner, at Patricia’s mother-in-law’s beautiful Bordelaise home, we had 'Boudain Blanc' (plump white sausages served with stewed apples) and I was informed that the little black specks I saw in the sausages were truffles…still not convinced of their value, I grunted in response, nodded briefly and continued to enjoy the Sausages. Delicacy or not, they were delicious!

Less than a year later, I read Encore Provence in which the author Peter Mayle indulges in an entire chapter on truffles! And I decided it’s time I polished up my knowledge on these trifling mushrooms that cost a tiny fortune!

It is common to say that the truffle is an underground mushroom, but more exactly it is the fruit of the Mycelium. In the classification of mushrooms, the truffle is in the category of the Ascomycetes Hypoges. (Ascomycetes because the spores are enclosed in small pockets (asques) and Hypogee because it is underground.)

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Known as the King of Fungi, this highly fragrant tuber has been the cause of gunfights, thefts, wild accusations of fraud, and inquiries that take the police across countries to catch the culprits! In France, truffle commerce is very secretive – truffle cultivators and “hunters” avoid the taxman just as much as drug dealers do elsewhere in the world. And why? Because of it’s cost & rarity - These days a kilo costs US $750 in French markets. By the time we get them in North America the price may be as high as $1,250 to $1,500, depending on store location, and fame of the establishment. Dean and Deluca in New York will not part with a kilogram of truffles for less than $1,400, and Fauchon in Paris is likely to charge $1,000. To make it more exciting – truffles lose weight as they dry, so you actually lose money as the clock ticks – the race to carry the truffles across from the market-places to Paris into the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant is critical and I definitely don’t envy the man who has the job of transporting this delicacy from source to destination! A tiny consolation is that they can be stored for months, as long as they are kept in a damp atmosphere, and even frozen, though that affects the quality & texture of the mushroom.

Since truffles cannot be seen, specially trained sows and dogs are employed to find the elusive tubers, Sows love to eat them and have a keen sense of smell, but because of their size, transportation tends to be cumbersome, also once they start digging, it is difficult to stop them to retrieve the truffle. Many “hunters” prefer specially trained dogs that are easier to control. And then there are the precautions one must take to ensure that one’s precious truffles aren’t stolen from the “fields” overnight by the “smugglers” of the truffle trade!
There are three types of truffles – black, grey, and white. Black truffles generally come from France, white from Piedmont and Umbria, Italy and grey can be found in North America. Because black truffles are in such high demand, many fraudulent dealers buy inferior truffles like fungi, colour them and sell at exorbitant prices. Chinese truffles look like black French truffles, and some dealers are known to colour and sell them for authentic. Generally they buy the Chinese truffle for $30 a kilogram and after colouring sell it whatever the going market is. Considered an aphrodisiac, truffles are used in various preparations - goose liver pates, in sauces, omelettes, scrambled eggs, compound butters, baked in puff pastry... Mayle, suggests that the true relishment of truffles is found in the simplest recipes. So the best way to enjoy it, is to have it with plain scrambled eggs!

Hmm…perhaps next time I’m in France? (IF I can afford it!)