Never getting the respect you deserve
It’s time for a change!
Oh, Oregon Truffle!
Dug from the rich Oregon soil
Shaped by the hand of nature.
Your earthy scent: remeniscent of all that made you
Oh, Oregon Truffle!
Your time has come:
Break out of your silence
And grace our plates and palates.
"Who ever says truffle, pronounces a great word, which awakens erotic and gourmand ideas both in the sex dressed in petticoats and in the bearded portion of humanity." Brillat-Savarin, 1825
This weekend, I was fortunate to be a patron at the First Ever (and I hope, Annual) Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene. And no, not the sugary kind of truffle, but the lovely, lumpy, sweet-smelling fungi kind of truffle. Truffles across Europe have been the fodder for gourmands and chefs for centuries – some of these small fungi now rope in a hefty $2000 a pound! But this event was to honor a lesser-known variety of truffle called the Oregon truffle, whose range extends from Vancouver Island, British Columbia to Southern California. These little truffles were virtually unknown about 20 years ago, they began to get the culinary recognition they deserved. James Beard (born in Portland, by the way) declared in 1983 that Oregon truffles were at least as good as the French Black and Italian White truffles."
Truffles are a fungi, like mushrooms, but which grow under ground. They are the fruiting bodies of mycorrhizal fungi (symbiotic) that live in soil and associate with tree roots. But, instead of fruiting above ground, the truffle fruits below ground - and never sees the light of day (unless it is dug up). Yet, truffles are common in the Pacific Northwest, especially in Douglas Fir forests, as they grow in the needles and topsoil around the Douglas fir tree. The beauty of a truffle is that it is one of nature's own exquisite creations: it is rare, and no human has been able to reproduce it's subtle, complex flavor.
Browsing the goodies displayed at the Truffle Marketplace, one of the vendors I came across was Juan Alcala, a truffle specialist for Oregon Wild Edibles. He and his partner, Jim Wells, have been friends for 34 years and recently began their business to help the plight of the Oregon truffle. The two gentlemen know a lot about truffles… they were kind enough to answer all of my questions, and each of their truffles comes with sheets full of truffle information and a guarantee that each truffle passes their very high standards and was grown in clean, unpolluted soil. They even recommend that you squeeze, smell and handle your truffles every day (Who wouldn’t want to play with their food? Especially with this bunch?).
Oregon Black truffles are unique in both scent and flavor. Their fragrance is far different from that of the European Black truffle, which Juan and Jim had available for comparison. European truffles smell kind of like a spa to me - that earthy clean scent. The Oregon Black smelled more like an earthy cheese. We determined that the European truffle they had for display would fetch a pretty penny: almost $675 dollars!
I ended up with a single premium White truffle – medium sized, only .20 oz. (it's the end of the month, so I'm poor again!), but it was ripe and full of flavor and fragrance. Juan helped me pick it out himself. I took it home, cradled in an unbleached paper towel, and (after taking pictures of it, of course) decided to make a soup that would showcase my new purchase. With such a small amount, I wanted to maximize the flavor as much as possible – I could have put it in an omelet, but I just couldn’t wait that long! I decided on a savory white bean soup (recipe below). I had a few very small truffles that had been stashed in my freezer from the end of the farmer’s market, when we had been so busy that I wasn’t able to cook anything with them. They went into the pot to flavor the soup, while my newly arrived truffle was the star feature: thin shavings on top, accompanied by a tiny swirl of organic white truffle oil made by another local artisan from Yachats, Oregon.
Those of you that have been reading my site for a while are aware that I support the Slow Food Movement, and try my best (with the means I have as a student, of course) to give the majority of my business to local farmers and vendors that follow practices I believe in. Oregon Wild Edibles fits right in with these goals, their prices are reasonable, and their practices are admirable. So if you are a supporter of similar ideas, would just like to try one of Oregon's finest delicacies (Valentine's Day is coming up), or even learn more about these truffles or what to do with them, write to them, email them, or give them a call! (Remember, this is a small business, so they aren't set up to do direct website ordering yet) I'm sure that you'll be hearing much more about Oregon truffles in the future. Most of the pleuthera of information here was provided to me by Juan and Jim.
Oregon Wild Edibles
Jim Wells and Juan Acala
PO Box 11021
Eugene, OR 97440
541-484-0793
Fax: 1-714-459-7147
oregonwildedibles@hotmail.com
www.oregonwildedibles.com
I'll be posting a few of the other vendors I discovered while at the Truffle Marketplace in the next few days. For now, here's the soup recipe:
Truffle-scented White Bean Soup, adapted from Cooking Light
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp. roasted garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
24 oz. of cooked cannelini beans
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
a few small Oregon White truffles for adding flavor to the soup
truffle oil, and one very ripe Oregon White truffle for garnish
This is a simple and tasty soup. Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan and saute the onion for a few minutes or until it begins to turn translucent. Add the roasted garlic cloves, pepper and fresh rosemary and saute for 30 seconds more. Add the chicken stock, beans and small truffles to the pan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, your house is going to smell delicious, I promise. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Wait 5 minutes, then blend half of the soup at a time in a blender until smooth. Divide into bowls, then drizzle with truffle oil and garnish with thin shavings of a ripe Oregon white truffle. Serves 4.
Note: I might add a little cream to the soup at some point also; perhaps with the lemon juice. I know that this defeats the purpose of "cooking light," but I think it could really benefit from a little extra creaminess. A little gorgonzola thrown might also be lovely :)