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How to Find Truffles in the Forest

 If you're looking for the candy kind of truffles, stop right now - I'm talking about the fungal kind! Forest truffles are actually a mushroom, but an unusual one; a mushroom that grows under the ground. That fact makes them especially difficult to find, because you can't see them. Truffles in Italy

and France often fetch hundreds of dollars for a good one - they are a culinary treasure that few caneven truthfully admit to ever tasting. But surprisingly, truffles the near equal to those from Europe are found right here in the U.S. Would you like to find a few? Stick with me for a few minutes, and I'll let you in on a few truffle secrets. Remember, truffles are the world's most expensive single foodingredient - but you can find them for free!

Things You'll Need

  All the necessary things a prudent person would take with them for a hike in the woods - if you don'tknow, do some research first.

Instructions1. o  1 

The first secret of finding truffles is that if you try finding them all by yourself, you probably won't besuccessful. Finding truffles requires having a few animal friends! OK, so you already knew that theytrain dogs to find truffles - and with their acute sense of smell, dogs are especially good at this task.Hold that thought, and in a minute, I'll tell you how you too can train your own dog to find truffles.But surprisingly, other animals can be helpful too.

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The second secret of truffle hunting is knowing that once you get into the forest and begin looking fortruffles, you'll need the help of that other animal - forest voles, or mice. It seems that voles, squirrels,and chipmunks love truffles too, and if you look for evidence that they've been looking in a certainarea, that's a good tip off that you'll find truffles there too. Truffles, like other mushrooms, often growin clusters quite close to each other - so if you find one, you may find more close by. And voles willoften uproot a ripe truffle, and simply leave it there! Why? Who knows? But most eatable truffles aretoo big for a vole to finish - so often, you'll find a nice truffle with a few nibbles gone - Take it!

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3 The third secret of finding truffles is that like many mushrooms, the truffle has an affinity to certainforest trees - in other words, if you can find a particular kind of tree, you can probably up your chancesof finding the kind of truffles that grow under that tree. Depending on where you live in the U.S., thetree/truffle relationship will be different. Here in the Northwest, the trees I look for are young Douglasfirs (BLM plots, Christmas tree farms, etc.) Check the Resource section below, where I've included asite which discusses the affinity of specific trees and specific truffles (yes, there are many kinds oftruffles - too many!).

o  4 The fourth secret of finding truffles is that they are always found quite close to the surface of theground. This is good for the various animals that are looking for them - and it's good for us too! Imention this because some truffle hunters go into the woods armed with rakes, and indiscriminately begin to turn over the forest floor until the area looks like a battle scene. Please learn early to never use

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this method - it is generally ineffective - almost every truffle you find will be unripe! And it ruins theforest floor and the delicate mycelium (the vegetative body of all forest mushrooms), growing justunder the surface of the forest floor) for any future mushrooms or truffles. In all honesty, if you use arake like a butcher in the woods, you may be killed right there by other trufflers or mushroomers! It'sthat serious!

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5  Now as the fifth secret of finding truffles, let me share with you the absolute best way to probe fortruffles - with your bare hand! Not with any tool of any kind, just your bare hand. Remember, you'relooking for evidence that animals have disturbed the forest floor (small areas of pushed up earth, andsmall holes in the duff). When you find such an area, push your hand under the surrounding duff, andwith your fingertips, feel around for a hard, ball shaped object, generally the size of a walnut or a ping- pong ball. There may be only one, and maybe the vole has taken a few nibbles out of it - so what!Maybe there's more than one - just keep feeling around the area. When you are done, try to pull thecover of duff back into place. Yes, even your hand has done some damage, so try to leave the area asmuch like you found it as possible. Please practice responsible truffling.

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So, you've found what you think is a truffle, and you've heard that ripe truffles have a smell - so yousmell it. If it's really ripe and eatable, it should have a rich, earthy, garlicky, pungent smell (some thinkthe aroma is wonderful, others think it's funky). But you may not smell anything - often, conditions inthe woods are cold and wet during truffle season, and your truffle may need to warm up before it givesoff its smell. Take it home and smell it again - still not much smell? Wrap it in paper towel, and put itin the fridge for a week or so - often it'll ripen there - however, if it's just too young, it won't get anyriper. But if it soon fills your refrigerator with that beautiful or funky truffle smell - congratulations!Start looking for some truffle recipes.

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If your truffle came from the Northwest woods and has a strong, pungent aroma, it is likely one of thehighly prized ones - it may be a Tuber gibbosum(Jan-Jun) or Tuber oregonense(Oct-Jan), commonlycalled an Oregon white truffle. The outside color of these begin as a white, unripe and small truffle - asit grows, it may take on a more orange tone, eventually turning a brownish tan - it may get as large asa golf ball. If your smelly truffle is black, larger than a golf ball, and knobby shaped, it's likely aLeucangium carthusianum(Sep-Feb), or Oregon black truffle. If your truffle has little or no smell, it iseither unripe, or not an eatable variety. Another way to determine if you have a real truffle is to cut itin half - all of the eatable truffles noted above have solid cores with unique, beautiful marblingthroughout. See http://www.natruffling.org/ noted below under Resources, for both keys toidentification, and pictures of hundreds of truffles - yours will be there.

o  8 Your best use of this first truffle, especially if it has a rich, pungent smell (or even one that is rotten!),is to use it to train your dog to find more truffles. How? Place the truffle in the toe of an old cottonsock, along with some other stuffing (some trainers like to use an old 35mm film canister instead). Useit to play "hide and seek" with your dog - make sure you reinforce letting the dog smell the sock between each search. Use a command, like "Get the truffle!" each time. Dogs like things that have pungent smells - your dog should enjoy the search. Remember to reward - food and praise - for eachsuccess, and make the search harder and harder - always using the command, "Get the truffle!"Eventually, you can move the game outside, where you can bury the sock in the ground or under pineneedles. Keep the sock in the fridge - eventually it will get VERY ripe, but your dog will love it! Onceyour dog gets good at this game, take him/her out to the woods for the real thing. A good truffle dog is

the answer to consistently finding plenty of ripe, eatable truffles - a great investment!

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IITruffles are difficult to find and very expensive as a result! In 1994, black truffles sold for $350 to$500 a pound. In the United States, edible truffles are collected in the forests of Oregon andWashington. In Europe, most truffles are collected in France and Italy.

Truffle hunters in Italy and France use pigs and mixed-breed dogs to sniff out truffles. Dogs are preferred to pigs because pigs love to eat truffles. Notice the staff held by the truffle hunter in the picture with the pig. The hunter uses the staff to force the pig to back off, once the pig has located atruffle.

In Italy, truffle dogs are trained in several steps. First, the dog is taught to retrieve a rubber ball. Next,a small bit of smelly Gorgonzola cheese is substituted for the rubber ball. After the dog has learned toretrieve the cheese, the cheese is hidden, forcing the dog to sniff it out for a reward of food. Finally, asmall truffle is substituted for the cheese. The dog is trained to fetch, then dig up the truffle.

Dogs like other food better than truffles, so bread and other treats are used for rewards. The night before a truffle hunt the dog is not fed so it will be eager to find truffles for the treat. Some dogs take

the easy way out. They find and eat garbage buried by campers! Dogs generally do not find youngtruffles because the odor is too weak. The odor becomes stronger with age as the spores mature.

The value of commercial truffles means that there are laws controlling their collection. In Italy, forexample, truffle collectors are tested and licensed. There, organizations of land owners calledcooperatives control truffle hunting on their property. Unless you are a member of the cooperative,you can be arrested for collecting truffles from cooperative truffle beds.

In North America, truffle collectors use threemajor clues to find truffles. First, it must bewarm and the soil moist. Truffles are often found10 to 14 days after a heavy rain. The umbrella

shaped mushrooms which pop up after a goodrain can be used as a kind of clock. Look for

truffles after these mushrooms have started to collapse.

Second, the right trees must be present. Truffles are formed by fungi that are partners (ectomycorrhizal) with certain trees. You will not find truffles under maples, for instance, because maples do not form ectomycorrhizae. Trees to use as clues include: pines, firs, Douglas-fir,oaks, hazel nuts, hickories, birches, beeches, and eucalyptus.

Third, truffles use animals for spore dispersal. In North America, squirrels and chipmunks are themajor wild animals dispersing truffle spores. Search among the right trees for pits dug by rodents intheir own hunt for truffles. Pits do not guarantee success, however! Rodents also dig pits searching foracorns, onion bulbs, and beetle grubs.

The best success results from raking around fresh pits. Look for pits not filled with leaves or otherdebris. I use a four-tine garden cultivator with the handle shortened to 30 inches to rake leaves off thesurface and dig into the soil 3 or 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) . A good eye is required as many truffles aresmall and colored red, brown, white, or even black.

Bring a supply of small paper bags for taking your truffles home. Write your collection notes on the bag before putting the truffles inside it. Information on fresh appearance and habitat is often needed toidentify fungi. Note the color and shape of the truffle, and what kind of trees are close by. The dateand precise location are also useful information. These data can help you understand when and where

to look next year.

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Do not put truffles in sealed plastic bags. If you do they will mold, get slimy, and smell bad! NEVEREAT ANY TRUFFLE, OR OTHER FUNGUS, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY ANEXPERT! You might confuse the button stage of a poisonous mushroom with a truffle, or be allergic.

Hunting truffles is like hunting buried treasure. Good luck!