As for us budding truffle farmers, we learned a lot from our wonderful instructors, Dr. Carlos Colinas and Christine Fischer, but less than expected in cultivation seminar as a whole. What we mostly learned is that cultivation is so new, especially in the U.S., that no one can really give you a straight answer on anything. Or, perhaps, no one wants to be liable for giving an answer that may eventually be proven incorrect. So we basically learned that anything may be possible in the world of tuber melanosporum cultivation aka truffle farming and that if you want to learn more you should just dive right in and find out if it works for you.
That said, we did meet a lot of nice and interesting people at various stages of their truffle farming endeavors. Some are dreamers, some are planners, some are a few years in, some have a few trees, some 400 trees, some no trees. We learned that you train a trufflehound like you'd train a drug-sniffing dog, and that virtually any breed with stamina will work (we're already arguing over what types of dogs to get even though our trees haven't arrived!). We also learned that the truffle cultivation seminar may be something to attend only once, then plant, and then wait a few years until you see how your farm is doing, then return for the grower's forum if you have questions, or answers to help others along.
Best of all for us, we finally saw, smelled and tasted our first truffles!
Here we are getting our very first whiff of a french black truffle recently harvested in Tennessee of all places!

Either way, I think the picture reflects our trepidation and dismay at the crop we're banking on. Neither of us appears to have the palate to appreciate a $1,000 piece of fungus, which will probably be helpful as we won't be sneaking truffles behind eachother's backs. Call me simple but I would choose a box of Cheez-Its over a 4 ounce truffle any day.
Still, at least we now know what they look, and smell, like. Here is a picture of the infamous tuber melanosporum, aka Perigord or french black truffle, that we will be growing:

And here it is up close and sliced in half. You can see the marble-like appearance that means it's ripe. It has an earthy but potent smell that makes me wonder how anyone ever felt the need to dig up this little, smelly dirt-clod looking thing and place it in their mouth. As I said, I'm simple...

Oregon has its own native truffles known as the Oregon white and Oregon black truffles. Here is a picture of the oregon white truffle:

We saw some other types of truffles, looked in microscopes at micorryzhae (which look like little corn dogs), and after two days of learning about truffle history and farming, left feeling fairly confident in our endeavor as we appeared to have the climate and soil most similar to where the truffles are found in Spain, France and Italy.
After spending Friday and Saturday in class, we attended the Grand Truffle Dinner with 298 other food and truffle afficionados. The meal had an appetizer, three courses, and a dessert, all of which were prepared by James Beard award winning chefs and included truffles. Here is what our menu consisted of:
AMUSE BOUCHE - Tuna Crudo with Celery-Anchovy Salad & Truffle Vinaigrette (By Chefs Stephanie Pearl Kimmel & Rocky Maselli of Marche in Eugene)In my opinion, the amuse bouche, first course (my favorite!!!) and dessert were awesome. The second course was okay and I like the idea of a timbale (a mashed potato plop in the center of a bowl of gravyish soup). The third course looked terrible on a white plate and my chicken inside the pastry was dry but I did like the little chicken legs surrounding it as they were tasty. Then again, I'm not a food critic or even close to being a gourmet so take that how you will. Either way, here's my only clear picture of the dessert, which was way better than it looks:
FIRST COURSE - Oregon Dungeness Crab Salad with Black Truffles, Apples & Shell Beans (By Chef Vitaly Paley of Paley's Place in Portland)
SECOND COURSE - Timbale of Fingerling Potatoes & Truffles with a Potage of Leeks & Root Vegetables (By Chef Greg Higgins of Higgins Restaurant & Bar in Portland)
THIRD COURSE - Papillotte of Coquelet with Truffle Port Compote & Celeriac Mousseline (By Chef Philippe Boulot of The Heathman in Portland)
DESSERT - Truffle Pear Tarte Tatin with Sour Cream Puff Pastry, Roasted Hazelnuts & Truffle-Honey Ice Cream By Chefs Cory Schreibner, Michelle Vernier & Dustin Clark of Wildwood in Portland.

Next up: Setting up the farm, complete with pictures!
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