Growing for the gourmet: Truffle business a worldly effort

By David Maurer

Published: September 1, 2008

RIXEYVILLE

The electronically operated front gate obediently swung open when an unseen finger buzzed a visitor through.

Such high-security measures might initially seem unnecessary in the peaceful, wooded countryside near Rixeyville. When one understands what’s going on at the small farm, though, it starts making sense.

Black truffles.

The mere mention of the fungus with the appearance and texture of a dog’s nose can make the culinary antennae of chefs vibrate like tuning forks. With market prices often soaring to $1,000 and beyond for a single pound of top-grade truffles, the delectable delicacy can also be an alluring cash crop for planters.

To this end Pat Martin and her husband, John Martin, started a company called Virginia Truffle Growers. Their ambitious plan is to help add black truffles to Virginia’s agricultural offerings.

The business not only sells the trees that produce black truffles, it will share proprietary knowledge that will enable growers to be successful. A sister company, Virginia Truffle Sales and Marketing, will help the tree customers sell their truffles if they choose.

The Martins are also planning to eventually have about 600 truffle-bearing trees on the farm. To help ensure their plan will work they’ve included two vital business partners in their enterprise — Tim Terry and Maggie Shumack.

Terry is a Tasmanian truffle grower who has the largest operation of its kind in Australia. His extensive research, development and expertise are critical.

Translating that knowledge into practice here in the United States is Shumack, who is also from Australia. Trained by Terry, she knows exactly how to create trees that will produce truffles in about four or five years.

“I am certain we will produce truffles [in Virginia],” Terry said via e-mail from his home in Tasmania. “The soils are good, climate is good and we have the proven track record and technology to achieve a very viable industry there as we have done here.

“Fifteen years ago when we first started here everyone thought I was mad even attempting it. Then I grew Australia’s first black truffle in 1999, and now we have a multi-million-dollar industry in Australia.”

Virginia Truffle Growers will be holding a special field day Oct. 10. Terry will be at the farm to answer questions and talk about the business and its potential on this side of the world.

“This event will be a good thing for people who are really interested in doing this,” Pat Martin said. “Tim will walk people through our orchard and explain the why and how of doing this.

“There is a $10 fee, which includes lunch, and people will have to contact us to register beforehand. There will be a ribbon cutting and a little training session, as well.”

Humble beginning

The Martins’ operation is in full swing at their 26-acre farm they’ve named Le Clos de la Rabasse — the Cul de sac of the Truffle. Although the company now has 17,500 trees for sale, it had a humble beginning.

“We actually started in my mother’s basement in Alexandria,” Pat Martin said as she took a brief morning break at her kitchen table. “In early 2007 we planted the first acorns that produce English oak and holly oak.

“These oak trees are the ones Tim uses in Tasmania, and they’re doing very well here. He has found that they really do the best job in the consistent propagation of truffles.

“We’re now planting our first batch of 200 trees, and we anticipate it will be four to five years before we get truffles. This is not a quick turn-around thing, it takes time. But once a tree starts bearing truffles it will continue to do so for its entire life.”

When John Martin retired from the semiconductor industry a few years ago, he and his wife started looking for something productive to do. He became interested in truffles during the early 1980s when he lived in France for a few years.

The Martins discovered via the Internet that Australia has a burgeoning truffle industry. They took a trip there and met Shumack, who was working with Forestry Australia.

“We asked Maggie if she could help us and she found Tim,” Pat Martin said. “Initially John and I thought we would invest in Tim’s business, but as the wheels started turning we realized it could work here.

“And Tim was very keen to get into the northern hemisphere. We know of one operation in North Carolina and several in Oregon and Washington state.

“It’s our understanding that most of them are concentrating on producing the white truffle, which doesn’t command the same high price as the black truffle.”

Trees and truffles enjoy a symbiotic relationship. The truffle grows beneath the ground on the tree’s roots, providing mineral salts for the tree and aiding in its retention of moisture.

In order for a commercial tree to bear truffles it must be inoculated with the truffle spore. Five to six months later a sample from it is sent off to be tested by a mycologist to verify that the inoculation has taken.

“The trees are ready to be sold after the testing,” Pat Martin said. “But we decided to keep them for 12 months to make sure if we sell someone a tree we will be sure that it will produce truffles.

“We know if our customers are successful, we’ll be successful. That’s why we’re not going to sell you trees and then forget about you.”

Trees are currently priced at $50 each for the first nine, with the price going down from there depending on how many trees are purchased. Shumack will be the growers’ go-to person for advice and knowledge. She can help customers do everything from designing an orchard to teaching them how to care for the trees and prune them.

“The essential things you need are sunshine, good drainage, high pH in the soil and an ability to irrigate,” Shumack said. “I’ll have a look at the land to see which trees will be best suited for that particular property.

“I’ll show them where to plant the trees, how far apart, how often to water and all the things that will enable them to be successful. This is not a difficult thing to do, but there are certainly things you have to know.

“Once you start looking into this as a business you’ll find that it’s very secretive — people don’t want to give up their secrets. I think the benefit and advantage we offer is Tim’s and my own experience and knowledge that we’ll share with our customers.”

Shumack said she’ll be able to tell a buyer within a year of their planting a tree whether it will be producing truffles or not. One of the strongest indicators that the tree will likely produce truffles is the appearance of a phenomenon called brule on the ground around the tree.

Brule in French means “burn,” and that’s the appearance the ground around a tree will get within two years of planting if the truffle fungi is present and active. Although it’s no guarantee the tree will produce truffles, without the brule there is virtually no hope for an eventual harvest.

Black truffle gold

Although there are different types of truffles such as white and Chinese, according to Martin it’s the black truffle that’s the most sought after by chefs and connoisseurs. The earthy aroma and taste is so permeating that it’s usually used sparingly, like an herb to season dishes.

“Chefs will shave little pieces of truffle into recipes, so a pound will go a long ways,” Martin said. “And you have to use it within three weeks or so, because they degrade rather quickly.

“When we were visiting Tim in Tasmania, he served us ice cream with truffle in it and it was fabulous. It just adds a heightened earthiness, a nuance to foods.”

Shumack tells of seeing a single black truffle placed in a glass jar with a dozen eggs. She said the next morning the eggs were broken and scrabbled and the flavor of the truffle could be tasted in the eggs.

Although the qualities of truffles have been trumpeted since ancient times, they really started coming into their own during the 1600s. France became a major user and supplier of truffles because of its prolific truffle grounds, where pigs were used to find the black treasures.

Frenchman Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a famous epicure and gastronome who died in 1826, held truffles in high regard. He called truffles “the diamond of the kitchen.”

Fungus fan

Italian composer Antonio Rossini was another fan of the fungus. He has been quoted as saying that as an adult he had only wept on three occasions. The first time was when his first opera proved a failure, the second time was when he heard Paganini play the violin and the last time was “when a truffled turkey fell overboard at a boating picnic.”

There’s no telling how many people have been moved to tears when pigs have gotten to the precious product first and gulped it down. Because truffles are most often found six to eight inches below the surface an assistant with a good nose is needed to find them.

Because pigs don’t like to share their find, dogs are now preferred. Terry uses English springer spaniels to find his truffles, but he says any trainable dog can be easily taught how to do it.

Black truffles mature during the winter and are usually harvested in February and March. Because they remain at their peak of freshness and flavor for only a few weeks they have to be rushed to market.

The dark lumps usually range from marble size to as big as a baseball. Matthew Boisvert, sous-chef at the Clifton Inn in Albemarle County, is excited about the possibility of being able to buy locally produced black truffles in the near future.

“Most of the truffles we get are Chinese truffles that are imported frozen,” Boisvert said. “We shave them onto things like a finished pasta dish or cube them into a sauce and things like that.

“They have such a potent flavor that you just need a tiny bit. They have an extremely complex, rich nutty flavor that’s not replicated anywhere else in the food world.

“I think it would be fantastic to be able to get fresh black truffles locally. That’s the cream of the crop right there. I’m really psyched to hear about this new company. I think it’s fantastic.”

Terry said the major challenge of growing black truffles is to understand that you are not growing a tree, but a fungi that requires a completely different mindset. But if you do it well and are patient, the rewards can enrich the palate as well as the pocketbook.

“I think the perfume that it exudes is exquisite, and the flavor it brings to the simplest of foods is fantastic,” Terry said.

“They are so expensive because of the laws of supply and demand. While there is little grown, the demand is high.

“Also, what chefs can do with it means, you can have a lot of fun with a little truffle.”

Virginia Truffle Growers will be holding a special field day Oct. 10 with Terry. Registration is necessary. To register, call (540) 937-9881 or send an e-mail to . To learn more, visit http://www.virginiatrufflegrowers.com.