 |
Truffles:
|
|||||||||||
Oregon Truffle Recipes |
Oregon wineries, most notably King Estate, are innoculating the woods around their vineyards with truffle seedlings. Most Oregon wineries consist of a vineyard site surrounded by acres of untouched forest. The small wineries of Oregon, for the lost part, have left their woods alone, content to allow their presence to shelter their vineyards and maintain the "terroir" of the site. These forests are ready made for truffle cultivation. Oregon truffles could become a significant part of a vineyard's income, allowing fallow land to contribute to the business.
Why now? Why are truffles suddenly becoming a viable crop for Oregon wineries? Truffles have historically been harvested in the wild. If truffles were present, they were there without plan or human intervention. Cultivation of truffles was unheard of until the 1980's, when research led to methods for innoculating trees with the truffle fungus under controlled conditions. Over twenty years of successful cultivation by researchers, many from Oregon State University in Corvallis, have led to an interest by business people in commercial production.
One of the world's foremost truffle authorities is Dr. Charles Lefevre of Oregon State University, a truffle cultivation specialist whose company, New World Truffieres, is based near Eugene, Oregon. New World Truffieres produces truffle tree seedlings (oaks, hazelnuts and other species) inoculated with Tuber melanosporum and other truffle species in North America. Planting tree seedlings innoculated with the truffle fungus has proven the best way to develop a truffle "orchard".
Dr Lefevre says: " To cultivate truffles, inoculated truffle trees are planted in orchards much like those for fruits and nuts, except that the crop appears below ground and is usually harvested with the help of trained dogs or pigs that can smell the truffles through a layer of earth. Truffles begin to appear several years after the inoculated seedlings are planted and production can continue for decades. The onset and duration of production depends to some extent on the species of host tree. Yields vary dramatically: some farms produce as much as 150 pounds per acre each year while others produce little. Typical yields in Europe range between 25 and 35 pounds per acre each year, but as methods improve many more farms are achieving yields in excess of 100 pounds per acre."
Oregon White Truffles
Care and Cooking
Prep: Cooking: The fresh truffle is a still living mushroom, which gives off its perfume for several days. Fresh is best. Jars of preserved truffles have less of that "come hither" perfume. Truffle powder is a quick pick-me-up to a dish and still carries a hint of earthiness. There’s no reason not to have truffles in some form, even if you don't cook much. Oregon black truffles can be added to a dish earlier in the cooking process and still retain a lot of their earthy flavor. Oregon white truffles are much more aromatic, with delicate, floral and spicy scents and flavors combined. Oregon blacks have amore deep kind of an earthy-musky bass note that carries nicely and provides a real rich underlying flavor to a dish As for cooking, less is more. Gently sauté them in a dab of butter or use them in a cream sauce. Just remember - the perfume of a truffle is very volatile and disappears rapidly so limit the cooking time. Storing and Preserving A freshly picked truffle can keep up to a couple of weeks if stored properly. Its worst enemy is moisture: keep truffles in the fridge, on a bed of rice, in a closed container. The rice will also acquire a wonderful flavor. Storing truffles in a jar that you filled with whole eggs and then put in the refrigerator allows the truffle to perfume the eggs within. Use those eggs in a soufflé or an omelet and you’ll be amazed at how the subtle flavors permeate the shells. You hear people swear by preserving truffles in brandy or bourbon. This only works only for a few weeks as the alcohol will strip the flavors of the truffle very fast. The upside is that it makes great cooking brandy when you’re done, that you can add to a cream sauce or to help deglaze a pan with. You can store a truffle in neutral oil as long as you use the truffle and the oil within a couple of weeks. Beyond that, bacteria will develop. Truffles can also be frozen for two weeks in a freezer-proof glass jar. Don’t store truffles, or any mushroom for that matter, in a plastic bag. The truffles will rot if not allowed to breathe a little. Store truffles in a tight jar in a cool place and use ‘em fast is your best strategy. Tested culinary matches in recipes for truffle varieties: Italian white:
pasta, eggs, butter, cream, white meat
poultry, walnuts, risotto, Parmesan,
Asiago and Romano cheese, frisée and other
mildly bitter greens, white balsamic
vinegar in a salad, bresaola or other
cured meats such as prosciutto, potatoes
and other gratin dishes, pate and rabbit.
Truffled Fontina cheese fondue is killer.
Shaved raw, never cooked, and use the
oil at the last minute and not in the
cooking as too much heat destroys the
aromatic compounds. By now, you
know this mantra. Oregon white truffles: Everything on the Italian white list except the cured meats. They also compliment some of the culinary matches on the black truffle list, specifically dark meat poultry, pork and beef, mellow cheeses, great red wines and red wine sauces, soups and bisques, pastry and wild mushrooms. They also pair magnificently with tomatoes, something none of the other truffles do nearly as well. Their texture is much like the Italian white, soft and juicy, and they make an absolutely wonderful truffle butter if whirled with fresh sweet butter in a food processor. They specifically complement eggs and dairy products; and are excellent as part of a hearty beef dish such as filet mignon en croute (in a puff pastry crust), as their intense, musky-savory bouquet can stand up to even strong flavors. This extremely versatile truffle can be used either fresh or raw, sliced thin, lightly cooked in an omelet, or more moderately cooked as in for Beef Wellington or incorporated into a sauce or a pastry. Don't simmer them for anywhere near as long as you would a black truffle. Shaved or grated fresh is best or lightly warmed in butter. Source: Tanith Tyrr – Bay Gourmet |
The Process of Truffle
Cultivation
(with thanks to New World Truffieres)
Truffles are the “fruit” of fungi that live in a mutually beneficial connection to the roots of many trees. The truffle fungus finds water and mineral nutrients in the soil around the tree and passes them along to the tree. In exchange, the tree provides sugars produced through photosynthesis to the fungus. The tree and the fungus depend on one another.
Many types of trees can
serve as hosts for Oregon truffles, and many
kinds of fungi, as well as those that make
truffles, can fulfill the same role for
the tree. In nature, the truffle fungi compete
for space on the host tree’s
root system. This competition limits truffle
production, and if conditions are poor, other
fungi can displace the truffle fungus from
the root system.
Because it is not possible to weed out competing
fungus species, the strategy behind truffle
cultivation is to provide the truffle fungus
with the conditions it needs to prevail in
the competition against other fungi. This competitive
advantage is given to the truffles in several
ways: through careful site selection, planting
inoculated seedlings, and creating soil conditions
better suited to truffles than other fungi.
With a good site and good quality seedlings,
the establishment and management of a truffiere
is straightforward and potentially profitable
even on a small scale.
Oregon truffle cultivators
use seedlings inoculated with the "good" truffle
fungus while they are still in the nursery.
Being innoculated with truffle fungus before
planting, the truffle fungus has the advantage
of being there first. It is more difficult
for other fungi to become established on roots
that are already colonized.
In Oregon, truffle cultivators add lime
to the soil where the innoculated trees are planted
to raise the soil pH. This simple process creates dramatic
changes in soil chemistry, giving the culinary truffles
an advantage while simultaneously putting non-truffle
fungi at a competitive
disadvantage. Thus, Oregon truffle cultivators have
an advantage that their competitors, European truffle
farmers, do not have.
One additional method can be used to give Oregon truffles an advantage over their natural competitors in the wild. The competitive fungi in the woods of Oregon thrive in a limited number of tree types. By innoculating and planting trees cultivated from European sources, trees that Oregon fungi cannot live in, the truffle farmer limits the number of competitive fungi that can compete with the desireable truffle fungus.
Oregon's Commercial Truffle Industry
A combination of Oregon's environmental conditions and the cultivation methods described above (developed at OSU and other universities) seem to be providing Oregon truffle farmers with a competitive advantage. Beautiful, large truffles were shown at the recent Oregon Truffle Festival, and a number of companies marketing Oregon truffles and truffle related products exist today, with more on the way.
Oregon Wild Edibles (www,oregonwildedibles.com) sells Oregon truffles online from Eugene, Oregon.
If you love truffles a lot and are in it for the long haul, you might consider purchasing truffle inoculated trees from New World Truffieres (www.truffletree.com). He supplies inoculated seedlings and professional assistance to commercial and amateur truffle farmers.
Shirewood Farm (www.shirewoodfarm.com) cultivates truffles and hosts truffle hunts from Cottage Grove, Oregon.
The Campbell House (www.campbellhouse.com), a B&B in Eugene, Oregon, has a popular restaurant specializing in local produce, and often uses Oregon truffles in its dishes.
And my favorite, the truely memorable Marche Restaurant (www.marcherestaurant.com) in Eugene's Fifth Street Market, provides memorable meals from local ingredients in all seasons, and uses Oregon truffles when available. Founding Chef and Owner Stephanie Pearl Kimmel is sort of the Alice Waters of Oregon, offering fine cuisine from local meats, produce, nuts, herbs, and more for the last twenty plus years, first as founder of Excelsior Cafe, now at Marche, where she reigns with Executive Chef Rocky Maselli. I highly recommend Marche, at any time, and especially on Sunday nights, when they offer a family style dinner. Marche also has a steady calendar of special event dinners well worth the trip.
Resources and Organizations
The North American Truffling Society (www.natruffling.org) is based in Corvallis, and has regular truffling events as well as meetings and guest speakers. There's an excellent photo gallery of truffles on the site, nice to use to compare what you've found to waht the experts have identified. There's also more recipes, and some very cool t-shirts to order. If you're learning about truffle foraging, the NATS has self-published a Field Guide to North American Truffles, available on the site. Newsletters of the group going back to 1980 are archived on the site as well.
The Oregon Truffle
Festival (oregontrufflefestival.com) is
quickly turning into an extranvaganza event
attracting people from all over the world.
At the recent Second Annual event, attendees
from NYC to Egypt formed a substantial part
of the populace. The event features lectures
on truffle cultivation, truffle forays, dinners
prepared by Oregon's best chefs, and a grand
dinner event ($150 a person) with five courses
of truffle laden dishes made by five different
reknowned Oregon chefs.
Oregon
Pinot noir
to Accompany
Oregon Truffles
|
|
Home | Site
Map | About
NW Wine | Shop
for Wine | Highest
Rated | Wine
Clubs | NW
Wine News | Search | View
Cart Reproduction
of any part of this site prohibited without permission. |
