Oregon White truffle

[Tuberale]

Spent some time at the local Christmas tree farm today, and found this underground esculent. Used to be Tuber gibbosum, but had to be renamed and is now known as Tuber oregonense, which roughly translates to Oregon truffle. Mostly white, but with distinctive reddish blotches on it indicating near maturity.

Also including photos of a Hymenogaster found by a vole before I could reach it. In situ (as found). Then a close-up of the tooth marks still on the fungus.

It has been my experience that more people step on truffles than search for them. And many don't recognize what they find ... even when it is right before their eyes.

 

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[mountainplayer]

How've you been, Tuberale?

I'm curious as to how you use the truffles? I know that the white and black truffles that are more commonly known are highly pungeant and that a little goes a long way, so they are often grated or sliced thinly and added to foods mainly as an aromatic.

Same with the oregon white truffles?

MP

 

[Tuberale]

How've you been, Tuberale?

I'm curious as to how you use the truffles? I know that the white and black truffles that are more commonly known are highly pungeant and that a little goes a long way, so they are often grated or sliced thinly and added to foods mainly as an aromatic.

Same with the oregon white truffles?

MP

Sorry I haven't answered sooner, mountainplayer. Kind of busy here.

I use truffles with sauces, as flavorings, to top devilled eggs, sliced thin between the skin and flesh of poultry before roasting, in soups, sandwiches, salads ... even desserts (ever had truffle ice cream or sorbet?).

Truffles are also aphrodisiacs, but not in the way most people think of. Truffles contain pheromones, which are chemical sex attractants. An animal which eats a truffles is more likely to ... create other animals that eat truffles. Thus pheromones are part of the truffle life cycle, that also includes host plants, animals, and sex. Truffles spores (like seeds) are formed inside the truffle and cannot be spread by wind. So truffles have developed strong odors to encourage animals to dig and eat them. The spores can pass through an animal's gut without problem, and are excreted in feces some distance away.

But it doesn't "end" there.

Truffle spores are so tiny they are continue to be expelled for up to 3 months after ingestion. Many animals travel far in 3 months, and so disperse many truffle spores quite some distance.

Enter the Northern Spotted owl. The owl feeds mostly on California Red-backed voles and Northern Flying squirrels. Both of those animals eat almost nothing but truffles for at least 6 months of the year. The owl can fly 30 miles in a single day. An owl pelled or defecation can therefore disperse truffle spores further and faster than any other single organism. That's also why it's so important to overall forest health.

All truffles are mycorrhizal fungi. Without mycorrhizal fungi, trees and most plants die. Dr. James Trappe, professor emeritus in mycology at Oregon State University, has stated that it is easy to find a tree in a forest without mycorrhizal fungi: look for the trees with no green.

In other words, truffles are all around you all year.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Interesting!

 

[stefen]

Great lesson...always welcome new knowledge

 

[Tuberale]

Sorry, Stephen. This really isn't "new" knowledge. Like most knowledge, it's been around for years.

The first Tuberaceae in the United States was found in Louisiana on a Mississippi River levee almost 150 years ago. Tuber gibbosum was first found in California in 1878, but not identified in science until 1898 at the California Academy of Science by Dr. Harkness. Tuber oregonense was first identified by Dr. James Trappe in 1998 (I think), after I had been collecting a dark spring form off Tuber that Trappe identified as synonymous (the same) with the original preserved slide of Tuber gibbosum used by Harkness.

There are now at least 30-50 species of Tuber known in the United States. Most are from the West coast, but many are from the East too. They are found in deserts, on top of mountains in Colorado, in sand dunes in California and New Jersey. Many are found with just one species of host tree or shrub. So if you know the shrub, you are likely to find the truffle.

For more on truffles, see the website of the North American Truffling Society: www.natruffling.org

 

[stefen]

Its new knowledge to me...maybe that wasn't clearly stated...

 

[Joe Hoo?]

there are people that pay good money for these, saw a program on the Travel Channel Cash~n~Treasures a couple of years ago about truffles, just like morel mushrooms you can get a better payoff with truffles though.... i went to see if i can locate the old show, looks like they got most of the cash and treasure shows still on the website but i can not find the one they had on truffles....... HH

 

[Tuberale]

Its new knowledge to me...maybe that wasn't clearly stated...

Sorry Stefen. My bad. I have spoken about truffles for so long (23 years) that I often give too much information.

Chalk it up to being a former teacher: better to give too much info than not enough.