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01-03-2003, 06:15 AM

(simy1) wrote in message . com...
(Daniel B. Wheeler) wrote in message
I have grown truffles in Oregon with Douglas-fir. Many truffles are
found only with specific species of host plants or trees. Thus it is
unlikely you will be able to grow the truffles I cultivate in Texas.

Having said that, there are truffles in Texas already. Tuber lyonii is
often found with pecan, Amican basswood, Shagbark hickory, hawthorne,
and several other trees. It apparently is often ignored, since it is
sometimes collected by mechanical harvesters in pecan plantations and
discarded.

During my stay in France, I found out that some (inferior) truffles
would grow in the lowlands, under rows of poplars along canals or
ditches.

Ironically, those truffles _may_ have been T. magnatum, which the
French consider an inferior truffle. (So do I, now that I've sampled
them.) OTOH, the French also have at least some species of Picoa which
are quite edible here in Oregon. Picoa is named for the eminent
Italian mycologist Pico, who first identified T. magnatum. (In science
it would be correctly identified as T. magnatum Pico.) Picoa
carthusiana (now Leucangium carthusiana) was named for the Carthusian
Mtns. of southern France. It is, perhaps, the best truffle of the
United States, with a tremendous variation in aroma and flavor,
ranging from vanilla, chocolate, teriyaki beef jerky, pineapple, apple
mash, pear, and dried morels. Yet the French apparently ignore this
species, for reasons I have absolutely no clue about.

It should also be noted that Rhizopogons, which are sometimes also
called "False truffles", have some culinary value as well. The
Japanese, for example consider R. rubescens to be extremely good, and
pay high prices for it. In the 1990's, a tremendously large R.
rubescens was found in Oregon, weighing nearly 2 pounds.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com