Posted on 03/10/2007 9:10:55 PM PST by bruinbirdman
The French have fought a losing battle with the vineyards of California and suffered the indignity of having their elegant pommes frites renamed "Freedom Fries".
Now they face a new challenge from America over their most highly-prized and aromatic delicacy.
Just a few miles from the birthplace of frontier pioneer Davy Crockett, mushroom expert Tom Michaels has unlocked the secret of commercial production of the famous Périgord black truffle.
In a breakthrough that could one day make an American-grown Périgord truffle as ubiquitous worldwide as the Big Mac, Mr Michaels has produced his first crop of the pungent nodules in his orchard, deep in rural Tennessee.
Seven years after planting acres of hazelnut trees impregnated with the spores of Tuber melanosporum, the 59-year-old scientist discovered just a few weeks ago that his experiment had finally born fruit. Recalling the moment of discovery, he said "I was jumping around yelling 'Eureka'."
Mr Michaels estimates that his first crop of Périgord truffles could weigh as much as 150lb. With French truffles currently priced at around £850 per pound, he is sitting on a potential gold mine worth at least £120,000.
Confirmation that the truffle was the real thing came later in the kitchen of the famed French chef Daniel Boulud, whose eponymous restaurant in Manhattan boasts two Michelin stars.
Mr Boulud, who was raised on his family's farm near Lyon, is said to have filled his nostrils with the heady aroma of Mr Michaels's truffles and declared: "This is it. The first time in America. This Tennessee truffle is the real thing.''
Until now Périgord black truffles have been grown almost exclusively in Europe, with the lion's share coming from France. Once widely grown in the 19th century, French truffle production plummeted over the past century as ancient cultivation techniques were lost and prices skyrocketed. Small quantities of commercial Périgord truffles have been grown in Tasmania and New Zealand, but the scale of Mr Michaels's harvest is unprecedented.
French truffle growers are said to deliberately restrict production to keep prices high.
A recent dinner for millionaire gourmets at a Bangkok hotel, which included three-and-a-half ounces of Périgord truffles shaved over each plate of the fish course, cost more than £12,000 a head.
Mr Michaels's success represents the vanguard of the American black truffle industry. Although the region is best known for growing tobacco, the acidity of the soil and the local climate are an almost exact match with the Périgord region of France.
Truffle cultivation is funded by the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, which aims to encourage tobacco farmers to diversify into less harmful crops. Some 125 truffle orchards have started in the region with some already producing the coveted tubers.
Aside from a slight falling out in 2003, when France's criticism of US foreign policy led to the symbolic renaming of French fries as "Freedom fries", America has for the most part retained a love affair with French cuisine. The same is true of the truffle.
Release the pigs!
God bless America.
These people are all crazy. I'd eat a crow before I'd eat a snail or a truffle either one.
This author certainly has the art of understatement down pat. LOL!
Does this mean that French farmers will start growing tobacco?
And this is the first time I've ever read "Tennesse is like France" in my entire life....
Finally we'll be finding Tennessee truffles at WalMart.
With how much the French smoke, I'm surprised they don't grow their own already. LOL!
All truffles are not equal.
A hacked up version of the common black truffle ought not be compared to the more coveted white truffle, found in France and northern Italy. They draw big bucks and I don't mean the deer variety.
I've seen those truffles. Yech. They look like something you'd have to eat for a reality-tv show. I much prefer to substitute with hummingbird tongues.
These are certified Périgord black truffles. At £850/lb., they don't seem to be too hacked up and I would certainly covet them. Give the guy some credit.
yitbos
"Tennessee truffles". I don't why that sounds like a song I used to know...
French, are we?
No one has mentioned that classically truffles are found on the roots of oaks yet our intrepid Mr. Michaels is growing them on hazelnut trees.
I am surprised that this does not affect the taste or aroma.
My dad's from that area and one of the things his family did was grow tobacco as sharecroppers.
"French truffle growers are said to deliberately restrict production to keep prices high."
Socialists. No clue as to how the market works. You maximize the return (profit) by producing as much as market will buy at the highest price. You don't restrict the supply. Do you make more money by selling 10 lbs of truffles at $5000/lb, or by selling 1000 lbs of truffles at $100/lb ?
Maybe French production is down because it's politically incorrect to use pigs to locate them- truffles can't be very 'halal.'
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