High Country Life

Oregon forests hide an underworld filled with life, including wild truffles that chefs use in winter dishes. Explore Oregon’s offerings on The Truffle Trail!

Black Tie Tours offers two kinds of truffle hunting tours each winter: chauffeured Rustic Truffle Tromp and Bougie Truffle Tromp, complete with chef-prepared meals and Willamette Valley winemakers pouring their wines.

1. Taste Newberg’s Taste of Truffle

Truffles are among the most expensive ingredients available and difficult to source. Originating in Oregon and best found in its damp forests, harvesting requires specially trained dogs that detect its scent from tree roots emitted by truffles themselves – creating an exciting family activity and providing the chance for shared meals afterward!

Stephanie and Javier Czarnecki of SubTerra Restaurant in Oregon are well-known for their commitment to using only local ingredients; truffle is no exception! Stephanie and Javier take great pride in creating dishes that highlight its delicate fragrance, having grown up immersed in Guatemalan culinary culture where fresh products played an essential role. Javier brings that philosophy with him when foraging for mushrooms and truffles with his wife Stephanie.

This year, their inaugural truffle hunting expedition brought home both black winter and white truffle varieties that are common to Oregon. Of particular note was an abundance of pine-scented white truffles that added extra depth and character to savory dishes.

As one pound of fresh truffles can be too much for certain dishes, chefs in the region have found inventive ways to incorporate them into innovative creations. At Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery’s Head Brewer Shilpi Halemane has added truffle-infused hazelnuts in La Truffe Stout which will be served during truffle harvest season at their restaurant.

The restaurant will host various truffle-related events throughout the month, such as an immersive truffle hunt experience and wine and truffle-paired dinners. A retreat featuring lodging, truffle foraging, and an elegant dinner is also offered; curious travelers may inquire here.

2. Taste Dundee’s Taste of Truffle

Dundee offers its residents and visitors alike the unique culinary treasure of truffles this winter. Following on the success of Truffle Month, restaurants and wineries throughout Dundee are celebrating this umami delicacy during truffle season in February and March with experiences ranging from wine tastings featuring truffle-themed wines to foraging expeditions using trained truffle dogs, as well as luxurious accommodation packages and delicious meals featuring this mysterious fungus.

Truffle hunting (also called foraging) requires using trained truffle-sniffing dogs. Ava, who works for Black Tie Tours explains: “Their scent alone allows them to detect truffles.” These dogs also use color and texture identification systems to differentiate varieties. Foraging can be completed manually or using tools called rakes; truffle-smelling dogs find truffles quicker than humans can, digging around every base of Douglas Fir trees (the predominant species found in Oregon), making foraging much less resource intensive and damaging to land than doing it manually by people.

Black Tie Tours’s truffle-themed tours meet twice weekly from downtown Newberg. Rustic Truffle Tromp offers more rugged truffle hunting adventures followed by a meal consisting of soup, sandwiches and cheese while Bougie Truffle Tromp offers an enhanced experience featuring chef-prepared meals co-hosted by Willamette Valley winemakers.

Earth and Sea Restaurant at Argyle offers an exquisite truffle dining experience, featuring five courses featuring this delicacy paired with wines from its vineyards.

Learn about truffles and the local truffle industry by visiting the North American Truffling Society (NATS), located in Corvallis. NATS hosts events, classes and seminars throughout Oregon; additionally it publishes a field guide of North American truffles that makes an invaluable resource.

3. Taste the High Country’s Taste of Truffle

As much as we enjoy the scent of truffle, its taste is even more irresistible. Think luxurious creaminess that elevates breakfast cereal, grains and pasta dishes alike to gourmet status; not forgetting cheeses and soups too. To experience this truly exquisite culinary treasure for themselves, Country Walkers tours in Piedmont Italy and Istria Croatia offer guests close encounters with expert foragers and their hunting hounds as they search for these rare morsels of gourmetism.

Truffle prices reflect its laborious harvesting process and unique, laborious harvesting techniques. Subterranean fungi often grow underneath tree bark and roots in soil rich with calcium and magnesium; to unearth them safely without damage or crushing is key; wild pigs or trained dogs have long been employed to find truffles by sensing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from them to identify them underground from other mushrooms.

Though most fungi are edible, truffles are especially prized in Europe because of their delicate texture and intense flavor. Truffles have long been considered one of the world’s most luxurious foods – often being called the “diamonds of the kitchen” by chefs who view them as culinary indulgence.

Truffles have long been touted for their alleged aphrodisiacal properties; Brillat-Savarin claimed that Napoleon fathered his only legitimate son after eating truffled turkey, while Marquis de Sade is reported to have sneaked a stash into prison to seduce victims [1].

Truffles are famously celebrated for their distinctive aroma and are commonly added as an aromatic condiment to dishes such as eggs, meat and risotto dishes. Furthermore, truffles may also be grated over cheese for use as dessert toppings – and due to their aphrodisiac properties often feature in romantic meals.

4. Take a Truffle Hunt

If you have a desire for truffle hunting, Newberg and Dundee offer outfitters that specialize in this experience. However, for an authentic encounter, head straight for Piedmont where legendary hunters known as trifolai in Italian (tartufai in Piedmontese) brave the foggy autumn weather to hunt these prized mushrooms with trusty dogs by their side armed with keen noses and willing knowledge sharing skills.

They’ll show you where truffles have been discovered before, such as one particular stretch of ground with a dip. Rainwater collected here during late summer can encourage the formation of spores that produce truffles; plus this spot offers great opportunities for digging as truffles have an extremely potent scent that dogs can detect easily in the air.

Truffle hunters work all year, with peak seasons occurring between January and March for winter-aged truffles; April through June for tan truffles (known to fool unwary hunters); and September through November for white truffles. Your truffle outfitter can help guide your efforts by sharing knowledge of both forests and truffles while offering guidance in how best to store and use truffle-infused foods in restaurants and wineries near you.

Oven-roasted pigs once hunted truffles, but this practice has since been outlawed for obvious reasons. Today it is possible to take a tour that allows you to meet an actual truffle hunter and their canine companion; an exciting and captivating experience where seeing how man and dog interact provides part of its appeal.

Damian and Lindsay Turalla offer a unique Hunt then Lunch degustation adventure at their Turalla Truffles farm near Canberra. Join them and their pack of Jack Russell dogs on an simulated truffle hunt before enjoying a degustation-style dining experience! Perfect for families and groups of friends!