Delicacy Underground

Truffles are underground mushrooms--stonelike, spore-bearing fruit of fungi that live on tree roots. The insects and small animals which distribute truffle spores are attracted by the powerful, penetrating odor. The odor also interests dogs, hogs, goats and gourmets. The truffle has been in high fashion as an accent for royal feasts since the time of Pliny.*

Americans rarely see truffles except as thin, dark slices in jars of pate de foie gras, and that is really too bad, says Dr. Donald Philip Rogers of the New York Botanical Garden. There are plenty of fine, strong native truffles in the U.S. The only thing lacking, Dr. Rogers explains in the Garden's current Journal, is truffle-hunting know-how.

Squirrels Know. In the U.S., Dr. Rogers laments, truffles are seldom found except by occasional botanists who are digging for something else. The only exception is in the Northwest, where the presence of truffles is sometimes betrayed by excitement among the ground squirrels. Truffle hunters dig where the squirrels are digging, and sometimes find truffles under the scented soil.

In the East, says Dr. Rogers, this method, haphazard at best, does not work: there are no ground squirrels. Eastern mycophagists (fungus eaters) have to go back to first principles and use trained animals. Either dogs or hogs will do, but dogs are nicer to have around the house.

A successful truffle-hunting friend of Dr. Rogers, Lorenzo Robba of The Bronx, learned about truffles in Italy, and has since imported truffle dogs to exploit the natural trufflries (usually oak forests) of New York and New Jersey. Truffle dogs, according to Robba, belong to no special breed. Dogs of mixed ancestry do as well as bluebloods, but such large, muscular breeds as German shepherds are apt to take off after rabbits. Much better are small, snuffly dogs with a good scent and a spirit of cooperation.

Practice Cheese. Truffle dogs need not be imported. Training them is not difficult. Since genuine truffles are expensive ($12 a pound, canned), the trainer may use cheese. He takes bits of ripe, strong Gorgonzola, wraps them in cloth and buries them in the earth. When the odor has seeped through the soil, he leads his dog within range. After many tries, the dog gets the idea and smells out the Gorgonzola. When he digs up the bait, the trainer pats him and feeds him a rewarding biscuit.

By the end of summer, when the truffles bloom underground, the dog is highly skilled at finding such buried treasure. Then he is introduced to a real truffle, either fresh or canned. When the dog's interest has been transferred to the new odor, he leads the hunter to the trufflries. Dr. Rogers believes that the U.S. has enough oak forests rich in truffles to keep many dogs and hunters busy.

* The early Romans valued the light-colored Libyan truffle, while the French regarded the dark variety from Perigord as an aphrodisiac. M. Boscary de Ville-Plaine spoke of:

"The herb which gives us victory, In that short fight we love so well."

Gastronome M. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a great truffle lover, studied the subject deeply and decided that: "The truffle is not a positive aphrodisiac, but it may under certain circumstances render women more affectionate and men more amiable."

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