Hillbilly Truffles

The Food & Travel section of GQ has a 6-page article reporting the successful growing of black truffles in Tennessee.  When Julia Child’s book was released in the United States, the recipes called for canned truffles because fresh ones were virtually unknown.  Even in France the black Périgord truffles are in short supply, and they are considered a supreme delicacy.

Although the truffle possesses a pleasant crunch, it is treasured not so much for its taste or appearance but for its aroma, which has been likened to bedsheets after a night of abandon, slatterns who disdain to bathe, all that is dark and alluring about the human body and soul. In the middle of the winter growing season, they can be fruity and floral. Later, they become muskier…

They are not just pungent. They meld with certain foodstuffs, in particular fresh pasta, melted cheese, and runny eggs, enhancing their taste. They work well with vanilla ice cream, too. They are intoxicating. They weaken and captivate…

Truffle farming is difficult because it may require planting an orchard of hundreds of hazelnut and oak trees to host the mushrooms, but there are certain financial rewards: “The best day for him was December 21, 2008, when Tom located 24.2 pounds of truffles, worth more than $14,000… I selected the best of the previous day’s harvest and paid the prevailing rate of $640 a pound, exactly what French black truffles were selling for in America…”

GQ link, via Metafilter