SHOPPING LIST: MILK, PASTA, BLACK TRUFFLES

          Local Black Winter Truffles Coming to a Supermarket Near You

Last week's National Truffle Fest in Asheville, NC was an eye opener. Knowing that Black Winter Truffles are already available in markets around the US, I figured, so what's new?


Lots.  The southeast region of the US produces homegrown, American-born black truffles. Franklin Garland spearheaded this agricultural enterprise 20 years ago. Tilling former tobacco-growing fields, he planted inoculated filbert trees with black truffle spore.  Now, hundreds of acres are planted in NC, VA, and KY, as well as in CA.  Black Winter Truffles are being harvested, with the crop growing a little more bountiful every year.


Presentations at the Fest explored agricultural, economic, and logistical aspects of growing for the long term.  Truffle trees take at least 4 years to produce truffles, and even then, a harvest is a crapshoot.  Overheard at the forum: which  dogs dig best, micro pigs, tree fungus, and other tightly guarded trade secrets.


Not all attendees were growers.  Gourmands made a beeline to the Grand Bohemian Hotel (an adventure unto itself, with its Austrian hunting lodge theme) to get the inside scoop on the local truffle scene and to enjoy truffles in a variety of menus. Tastings covered truffles with wine, restaurant tours and meals, and multi-course splendors provided by high-profile, local and visiting chefs.  And oh, I taught a cooking class with wild mushroom and truffle recipes from my book, The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer (Workman 2000).

The event was hosted by the North American Truffle Growers' Association (NATGA) and organized as a fundraiser for the Frankie Lemmon Foundation, which supports special needs children.