Truffle marketer and promoter Jim Wells holds a large Oregon truffle, which fetched $250 at Marché.

Brian Davies
The Register-Guard

For the love of fungi

By Susan Palmer

The Register-Guard

Published: Tuesday, January 9, 2007

 

Jim Wells, truffle marketer and promoter, walked into Marché restaurant on Monday with one of the culinary delicacies in a small box, and within minutes the area around him was suffused with an apple-y, earthy aroma

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It's truffle season in Oregon - that time of year when the fungi that are cousins to mushrooms come into their own - and Wells had a doozy.

 

Nestled in the box was the biggest black truffle Wells has seen in three years. At 6.9 ounces, the aromatic comestible about the size of a Portobello mushroom fetched a pretty penny at Marché - $250.

 

"I've heard tales of bigger, but they're like fish stories. No proof," Wells said.

 

That's why he had Charles Lefevre, a mycologist and fellow truffle promoter, on hand to authenticate the weight.

 

Such a delicacy could easily sell at auction for $500, Wells said.

 

Still, it's nothing compared with Europe's more famous white truffles, one of which once sold for $165,000, Lefevre said.

 

What gives? Chefs and gourmands love the unassuming-looking fungus for the powerful aroma and flavors they add to a variety of dishes.

 

Wells is secretive about just where his truffle was harvested, but he will say that it came from private forestland somewhere in the Willamette Valley or the foothills of its flanking mountains.

 

Oregon truffles grow at the base of Douglas fir trees, mostly in young virgin forest on the edges of meadows or land that was previously pasture.

 

With growth that's triggered by cold weather, the truffle season starts at the north end of the valley and moves south. January is prime time for truffles, and the season will run through spring when Oregon's white truffles will begin making an appearance.

 

Marché chef Rocky Maselli says restaurant clients can expect to enjoy truffles infused in butter served over grilled steak or shaved thinly over canneloni.

 

The surprise bounty is a fine harbinger for the second annual Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene scheduled for Jan. 26-28, Wells said.

 

It offers the opportunity to taste truffles prepared by some of the state's finest chefs. Tickets for the three-day event range from $15 for truffle tasting and lectures to $1,025 for admittance to all the lectures, tours and meals at the event.

 

A $150 grand dinner featuring five courses prepared by James Beard-award winning chefs is also a fundraiser.

 

Half of the money raised will go to the nonprofit foundation The James Beard House, while the other half will create a scholarship in the culinary arts program at Lane Community College.

For more information, visit www.oregontruffles festival.com