• The 19th century French writer Alexandre Dumas wrote that if a truffle could speak it would say “eat me and adore God” He also said that truffles had the capacity to “make women more tender and men more lovable.”
• The 19th century Italian composer Rossini said "I have wept three times in my life - once when my first opera failed, once again, the first time I heard Paganini play the violin and once when a truffled turkey fell overboard at a boating picnic."
• “Those who wish to lead a virtuous life should abstain from truffles” (Italian proverb).
Is a truffle a chocolate?
• The cherry sized chocolate balls known as truffles are so called because when dusted with cocoa they look a bit like a real truffle. But the fungus comes first!
So if it’s not a chocolate what is it?
• Until about 100 years ago no one understood what they were and how they grew. Ancient Romans thought that they were the product of rain of thunderstorms and that lightening was necessary for their formation.
• The reality is at least as interesting as the myth. Truffle is a fungus whose fruiting body grows underground attached to the roots of certain trees. They like oak trees best (especially black Perigourd truffles) but have been found cuddling up to hazelnut, chestnut and beech trees.
Why doesn’t the tree kick the truffle out for sponging?
• The tree loves the truffle and the truffle loves the tree.
• A truffle is made up of a web of filaments known as mycelium which link up with the tree’s roots in what is called a mycorrhizal (mutually beneficial) relationship. The tree benefits in that the filaments of the truffle become extensions of its own roots and help it to absorb minerals from the soil. The truffle benefits from the products of photosynthesis that the tree’s leaves produce.
How many different kinds of truffle do you get?
• There are at least 70 species of truffle (of which 32 are found in Europe, the remainder occurring in Africa, China, the Americas and the Gulf states) but there are only two that really count in culinary circles: black Périgourd truffles and white Alba truffles.
Description of a white truffle (and the prodigious pooches that have found them)
• The White truffle (also known as the Alba Truffle or Tuber magnatum) comes predominantly is predominantly from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.
• They can be up to 12cm in diameter and 500g but are usually much smaller. Although in 2007 Giancarlo Zigante and his dog Diana found the world’s largest white truffle near Buje, Croatia. The truffle weighed 1.31 kilograms. A specimen weighing 1.5 kilograms was discovered by Luciano Savini and his dog Rocco.
• The flesh is pale creamy brown with white marbling.
• It has a very penetrating smell and a powerful flavour that tastes like nothing but sin.
• The white truffle market in Alba is busiest in the months of October and November.
• White truffles can be bought from La Marina in Longmeddow business park in Edenvale (they need a week’s notice) for R50,000 per kg.
Description of a Black Périgord Truffle (sadly no pooches)
• The black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is harvested primarily in France (especially around Périgourd) but also found in Spain and Italy.
• People will try and rip you off so take note if you are wanting a black truffle: it is unmistakable when cut in that it is indeed very black. It is not to be mistaken with the tuber aestivum (summer truffle) which is much less flavoursome and blackish/brownish and marbled when cut.
• It also has a strong, utterly unique aroma.
• The black truffle season is in late autumn through early winter. The black truffle markets are busiest in the month of January when the black truffles have their highest perfume.
• They reach 7 cm in diameter and can weigh up to 100g.
• Black truffles sell for between 200 and 600 Euro per kilogram depending on the quantity and quality of the harvest.
• La Marina have black truffles in stock at R5000 per kg.
Why are they so expensive? The eco-epicurean lament
• Truffle harvests have declined considerably in the past 100 years because of deforestation and the use of pesticides.
• Before 1914 1800 tons of truffles were harvested in Perigourd alone. Last year less than 100 tons were harvested for the whole of France. This explains why when one looks at period recipes they use truffles so liberally – they weren’t millionaires they just hadn’t destroyed the planet yet. E.g. Rossini’s truffled turkey requires at least a kilogram of black truffles for the stuffing.
Cut to the chase; eating truffles
• White truffles are generally served raw, shaved over pasta, risotto or salads. Occasionally cooked with veal and capon. A sauce made with Piedmont truffles, butter, cream and garlic and anchovy is poured over spaghetti or vegetables. The street vendors of Florence have been known to shave it onto hot brioche.
• Black truffle is best enjoyed with slightly fatty foods; foie gras, creamy scrambled eggs etc. Perigourd sauce is a stock based reduction with black truffles.
Can you cultivate a truffle or does it have to be a wild love story?
• As a result of this wild, ancient fungus/tree love affair it is difficult (but not impossible) to cultivate truffles.
• There are companies who raise black truffles by inoculating soil with fungus spores. NB. it is thus far impossible to do this with white truffles.
• There are now cultivated truffle-growing areas in the USA, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Chile. Joy of joys there are experimental projects in South Africa (mainly around Underberg in KZN).
• There is a company called Truffles of Africa who produces and sells truffle products. These include: Saplings inoculated with black truffle (tuber melanosporum) AND miniature trees inoculated with spores of truffle in pots suitable for verandahs – stoep truffles!
• NB. it will take 5 – 7 years for your stoep truffle tree to produce its first black truffles.
• Stoep truffles 1 tree R195 per tree. Potted tree from R250, depends on pot
• How do I buy a stoep truffle tree? http://www.trufflesofafrica.co.za/growing.html OR call Donna Hornby donna@trufflesofafrica.co.za or 0725381707.
How to hunt a truffle:
• Truffles are gathered between end of November and mid March but are at their best in January. So it’s silly to try and have fresh truffles on your Christmas dinner menu because they are seldom fully mature.
• If you are on your own (sans dog): there can be evidence on the surface soil that a truffle is lurking below. The soil around will look barren and almost scorched. But basically humans are kak at finding truffles and need to invoke the assistance of an animal or insects.
• With pig or dog or midges: The aroma of mature truffles can be detected by pigs and dogs. The pig has the disadvantage that it doesn’t like to be separated from the truffle once found. You can put a muzzle on him but after a while they get wise to you and sulk. Dogs are less possessive. Certain insects hover over the spot where truffles are hiding because they like to lay eggs into the truffle and use it as the world’s most expensive baby food.
• NB. Truffle hunting is highly regulated and if you do it on someone else’s turf they are likely to get very cross. Truffling rights are often separated from land ownership. If you are still determined to sniff about the season runs November to Feb or even March in Perigourd.
Where can I eat truffles in Gauteng?
• Michael Fridgon Wine Experience has an annual oyster, champagne and truffled scrambled egg brunch – but truffle fans will have to wait a year as that was last weekend.
• Auberge Michel in Sandton have a gratinated scallops with truffle and Comte cheese
• La Madeleine in Pretoria has a truffle crème brulee as an amuse bouche that is completely sublime.
• The best news of all is that Kirsten at La Marina (Longmeadow Business Estate 011 997 0500) is the patron saint of people with expensive tastes and limited means. Almost all suppliers would make you buy a whole kilogram but she is happy to sell as little as one truffle. I weighed her fresh black truffles and the average weight is 70g so for R782 you can buy one for Christmas dinner or a special anniversary or the like. She also sells the sweetest little truffle shaver for R295
What is a Kalahari truffle? Is it a truffle at all?
• Well, yes and no. Depending who you ask…
• The term "truffle" has been applied to several other genera of similar underground fungi.
• Fungi from the genera Terfezia of the family Terfeziaceae often known as “desert truffles” of Africa and the Middle East.
• Kalahari truffles are Terfezia pfeilii.
• Kalahari truffles are found in the Northern Cape and Namibia.
• Nama people call them N'abba.
• N’abba are golf-ball-sized, bulb-like fungi that grow in the sands. Like the French truffle, which is always found near the roots of oak trees, the Kalahari truffle has a symbiotic relationship with another plant - the desert melon.
• The Nama recommend carrying a stick when truffle hunting, to flip aside hissing adders,
• They taste like a pungent, nutty, earthy, wild mushroom. The traditional Nama cooking method is to build a hot fire and let it burn away until even the coals are gone. Then bury the truffles whole in the searing hot sand. The boerekos cooking methods generally involve sauting in butter or wrapping whole in bacon and roasting.
Where to eat a Kalahari truffle:
• Don’t try and eat them in Jo’burg or Cape Town restaurants because chefs lie. They say its Kalahari truffles but it comes out of the kitchen smelling of Italian truffle oil. If you get that hit you in the face Italian truffle oil smell you know it’s not our subtle friend the N’abba.
• Rather eat them in their home environment – go to the Northern Cape.
• Rooipan Guest House, R360, 120km outside Upington, 054 902 ask for 912411 or 082-415-1579. booking is essential - check to see if summer rains have resulted in truffles when you book. Owner Lizette Knoetze is the uncrowned Queen of the N’abba. She makes anything from cream of Kalahari truffle soup through to truffle-laden lamb stews. Best of all is the butter sautéed truffles on toast. She picks one thing a day and you like it or lump it.
• Paul and Riana Loots at Kalahari Guesthouse and Farmstall, tel 054-902 (ask for 918704) or 073-194-2864, e-mail kalahariguesthouse@webmail.co.za can sometimes sell you N’abba for home cooking.
NB. Kalahari truffles are seasonal. They are available only in April and May and as soon as first frost falls the season is over. Good rain is required in March for a decent crop.
|
