North American Truffles Rival European Cousins

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MADELEINE BRAND, host:

Now, to another forest, this one above ground in Oregon. Huddled along the forest floor, a delicacy - truffles. Usually they're found in France, where most delicacies are found, and they're very expensive. The Yankee version perhaps as tasty and a lot cheaper. David Welch reports.

DAVID WELCH: When Mike Hoppe took over ShireWood farms two years ago, it was completely overrun with Douglas firs. The property, just south of Eugene in Cottage Grove, Oregon, was an abandoned Christmas tree farm. He didn't mind, though, because the farm was overrun with something else - truffles.

Mr. MIKE HOPPE (Owner, ShireWood Farms): These were the trees that weren't harvested for Christmas trees that were just left to go on their own. That environment seems to be a good environment for the Oregon truffles.

WELCH: But discovering truffles wasn't like striking gold. That's because the price of Oregon truffles is at an all-time low. Jim Wells owns Oregon Wild Edibles. He says that 20 years of irresponsible harvesting is to blame.

Mr. JIM WELLS (Owner, Oregon Wild Edibles): We had immature truffles. We had rotten truffles. We had truffles that weren't the right species. We had things that weren't even truffles.

WELCH: Wells says that many truffle foragers have no idea how to properly harvest a truffle. These delicate mushrooms grow underground, intertwined in the roots of trees. Foragers often use rakes or shovels to look for them. That involves turning up entire patches of forest floor.

This wreaks havoc on a truffle's ability to ripen. Unripe truffles lack flavor and even more important, they lack aroma. And that aroma is what makes a truffle, well, a truffle. This careless harvesting is why Oregon truffles have had the reputation of being bland.

But Dr. Charles Lefevre is out to change that fact. Lefevre is a microbiologist and an expert in both European and Oregon truffles. He says that this bad reputation stems from the fact that harvesters use rakes.

Dr. CHARLES LEFEVRE (Microbiologist): And that's unfortunately what happens when we rake for truffles. We're able to harvest them two months before they're ready to harvest.

WELCH: But if Lefevre gets his way, harvesters will trade in their rake for a dog.

(Soundbite of dog sniffing)

WELCH: Not just any dog, but specially trained truffle-sniffing dogs. Europe has been using animals to find truffles for centuries. In Italy, they use pigs. France sometimes uses poodles. But here in the Pacific Northwest, Lefevre is counting on a purebred lab named Stella.

Mr. AARON KENNEL(ph) (Dog Trainer): Good girl.

WELCH: Aaron Kennel has been training Stella to sniff out truffles for almost a year now. His main tool, a film canister with several tiny holes.

Mr. KENNEL: There's some truffle inside here. And then I bury these around and have her find them. And then I give her a treat.

Here's a truffle.

WELCH: This is Stella's third trip to ShireWood, and she immediately starts combing the forest floor for truffles. She darts back and forth, alternating from sniffing open patches of ground to stalking the base of every tree she comes across. Lefevre explains Stella's method.

Dr. LEFEVRE: There are truffles all around in the ground beneath us. There's dozens of them everywhere. What the dog is doing is not so much locating the truffle as determining which one is ripe and ready to pick right now.

WELCH: And just as Lefevre starts to explain the science behind a ripe truffle, Stella hits pay dirt.

Dr. LEFEVRE: They're in the soil around the roots of the tree. Oh, look at that enormous truffle. It's got a pretty dark exterior, although the interior is still pretty white though. It's not a - it doesn't have a lot of marbling so -probably another couple of months it would have been a great truffle.

WELCH: Stella is still a truffle dog in training. Kennel says she hasn't mastered the fine art of determining a truly ripe truffle yet. But Hoppe and Lefevre both agree that if consumers could taste and smell even a semi-ripe truffle, Oregon's truffle market will be headed in the right direction.

For NPR News, I'm David Welch in Portland, Oregon.

(Soundbite of music)

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