2torial #0860:
Learn2 Appreciate Gourmet Mushrooms (continued)

Trifle with truffles

Truffles aren't mushrooms, but they are fungi, and they certainly qualify as gourmet foodstuffs. Unlike mushrooms, truffles are usually eaten raw or barely cooked and in very small quantities, since they are very pungent and extremely expensive (up to several hundred U.S. dollars per pound).

They look like small nuts or rocks and are sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy or warty. They grow underground near certain tree species, and are often found with the help of specially trained pigs or dogs. Truffles can't be farmed, and they must be consumed when perfectly mature and perfectly fresh. No wonder they're costly! The varieties most commonly available in North America include:

• Black truffles of Perigord, France (Tuber melanosporum), the most celebrated of all truffles

• White truffles from Piedmont in northern Italy (T. magnatum), which are more pungent than French black truffles

• Black truffles (Picoa carthusiana) and white truffles (T. gibbosum) from Oregon, which rival their European counterparts in size, flavor, and aroma

Choose truffles that have been out of the ground for only a few days, and have been refrigerated or packed in rice in the interim. Find a knowledgeable supplier and ask where the truffles are from, when they were harvested, and how they have been stored. They should be rounded but irregular in shape, and range from walnut-size to fist-size. Smell the truffles. They should have a pungent, richly layered aroma of earth and musk--their predominant flavors.

Use them as quickly as you can; to store them before use, refrigerate them in a brown paper bag or pack them in plenty of raw rice. Brush the dirt off the skins or wash them thoroughly under cold running water--the skin is eaten, too. Grate or slice truffles raw over salads, sauces, or pasta, or saute them briefly with onions, chicken, sausage, or eggs.

Gourmet mushrooms and truffles are some of the great culinary delights of the world. Choose them carefully, prepare them lovingly, and savor them thoroughly.

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