Interestineg look at where truffles grow and the people and dogs who love them. ( )

I think that Ian Purkayastha's "Truffle Boy" has a more compelling story, from a true truffle fiend, but this was interesting at times.

> nobody buys truffles based on smell. The ultimate aromatic ingredient sells on looks alone. Everyone wants smooth, round, golfball-sized truffles that they can shave tableside into perfect wafers for their big-spending clients.

> She was driving down to the New Jersey warehouse, and hadn’t had breakfast, and happened to have some useless shards of white truffle in the cooler. So she bought a bagel—toasted so the cream cheese was warm enough to awaken the truffle vapors—and grated the broken truffle shards all over it. Zelda sighs wistfully, summoning her inner Proust, and maybe her inner Byron, too. “That may have been the best thing I ever ate.”

> A dog nose has inner flaps that control the direction of airflow. New breaths come straight in through the nostrils, but when a dog exhales, the flaps close and shunt the old air out the sides of the slits. In this way, a dog is able to continuously breathe in fresh samples of a scent trail—unlike humans, who contaminate and disperse the evidence with every exhalation.

> dog noses have two channels: one leads to the lungs, the other branches off into a cul-de-sac of fine passages lined with a hundred times as many olfactory receptors as we have. Because this branch isn’t en route to the lungs, dogs can give their olfactory receptors more time to process the contents of any particular sniff.

> In the 1970s, French mycologists learned how to inoculate oak or hazelnut seedlings with black winter spores and trigger mycorrhization. Today virtually all black winter truffles are farmed. Spain is tops, France a distant second, but up-and-comer Australia produces the best of all—or so the Australians said. … Even better, Australia’s seasons are inverted. Instead of December through March, the truffles are ripe June through August, when there’s no competition

> “Sometimes I think she thinks God is on the other end of the hole,” Charles mutters. (Later, when I read Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life, I will discover with a curse that I’m not the first writer to whom Charles has fed this irresistible line.)

> Oregon truffles don’t start to ripen until mid-January, but what little demand there was for native truffles tended to be around the holidays, the traditional time to enjoy European truffles. The result was that the truffles that came to market had all the allure of unripe peaches. Third, Oregon truffles have very short shelf life,

> Fats of all kinds readily absorb truffle volatiles, and they actually hold onto those essences better than a freshly sliced truffle, from which the gases quickly dissipate. Hence the beef tallow candles. Ruff also has twelve pounds of lardo infusing with Oregon whites in the walk-in, as well as pounds of butter, cream, and eggs, the three classic truffle buddies. “Avocado is my favorite,” Michael Baines chimes in. “Cashews are my second favorite.” ( )

Dig into the world of truffles and you'll find yourself immersed in romance, intrigue, and dogs [3 books reviewed] - https://wanderlustandwords.substack.com/p/truffle-hounds-romance-and-intrigue ( )

Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs

by Rowan Jacobsen

An intriguing book about the origin and uses of truffles. Interesting people who hunt for this delicacy. And finally, Truffle sniffing dogs (who are) amazing, intelligent animals. Fantastic photos included as well as recipes, this book has it all for the food connoisseur. I good read for all. ( )