March 4, 2020 • 38 mins
This macrofungus is so expensive because it only grows underground, and only under particular conditions. Anney and Lauren dig into the long history and uncertain science of truffles.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Anny Rees and I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today
we're talking about truffles. Not the chocolate. No, no, that
the fungus. But I I would put money on there
is a chocolate truffle with truffle truffle. Oh, I believe it.
I will hopefully not just like a chunk of it,
(00:27):
because that would be a very expensive truffle, but maybe hopefully.
I don't know. I guess y'all do what you want
to um with your truffles and your truffles. Truffles and truffles.
That's a show right there. I don't know what it
is yet, but that's a show. I'll think about it, okay. Um.
I was trying to remember if I've ever had truffles.
I think didn't we have them when we were at
(00:49):
Disney Food and Wine. I think we had like something
with truffles in it. I think there was a pastry,
maybe like a pastry with s cargo filling and maybe
some truffle butter. Yeah. I don't know why that was
a very specific memory for me. I'm like, oh, yes,
four years ago, this thing that we ate at Disney.
I definitely remember, well, it was quite That was the
(01:09):
halfway point, so I think that was when we were
having the moment of yeah, yeah, and I was I
was so happy because I had like a glass of
Vivaco and uh, I had my stupid sun hat and
I had embarrassed myself speaking French to some poor French
kid at Epcot. And it was a wonderful time, it
(01:32):
really was. And then I ate this beautiful pastry and
I was like, all is good with the world. Yes
it was. The sun was shining. Wonderful, wonderful. And then
we were also talking about truffle fries, which I have had.
Oh yeah, I love it. Truffle fry. Um. Apparently truffle
oil is slightly um contentious. I would say perhaps more
(01:56):
than slightly perhaps when we will get into that. And
I did want to give a quick shout out to
our old friends local company Beautiful Brinie Sea. They have
trouffle sea salt. Yes, they have a number of excellent
sea salt blends, um, but their truffle salt is probably
my favorite because it just adds this beautiful savory kick
(02:17):
to things and oh it's really good. Yeah, it was
definitely my favorite, I think, and I ran out of
it first, and I had more of it than any
she gave us. She was very kind to the owner,
and she gave us a bunch of samples of the
types of salt and sugars that they have. Yeah, and
by samples we mean like occasionally full yeah, like a
(02:37):
tough packages of them, but delicious. Yes, yeah, oh check
check them out if you ever have a chance to.
I think that they're carried by Williams. Snowman. Definitely their
sugar is Yeah, Amy Sadarius involved in that, right, Oh,
those sprinkles that she makes. Oh okay, alright, alright, we're
getting we're getting away from ourselves. All right. Don't let
(02:57):
me just start talking about Amy Sadarius because I will, oh,
okay later later part of that, but all right, for now,
let's get direct question. Truffles. What are they? Well, truffles
are a cousin of mushrooms that grow underground instead of
above ground, and thus, instead of growing a fruit with
(03:19):
a wide cap so that they can release their spores
out into the air, they fold in on themselves and
develop spores inside those inner folds. They wind up looking
like a like a tuber sort of potato e. One
genus of treffles is called tuber and truffles flavors can
vary depending on the species and the growth conditions, of course,
(03:39):
but um they tend to be funky and earthy and savory.
Researchers have found at least two hundred a Roman compounds
and truffles, and at least thirty seven that like directly
contribute to humans perception of specifically white truffles characteristic flavors. Though.
The one, the one compound that all truffles seem to
have in common is dime the sulfide, which is this
(04:01):
like funky, earthy, rotten cabbage, ripe cheese human fart aroma compound.
So it's interesting that says that says something about humanity.
I'm not sure what. I love humans all right, but yeah, yeah,
(04:23):
those aromas are not just to remind us of farts.
They're they're in evolutionary reproduction mechanism because truffles depend on
animals like burrowing rodents to eat their fruit and poop
their spores in a new location. And since truffles grown
to ground, that strong scent draws those animals to them. Yes, mm, hmmmmm. Oh,
and those white truffles that I mentioned have been in
(04:46):
European cuisine anyway, the most prized, the most prized variety
of European truffles have traditionally been found in smallest regions
of France, Spain, Italy and Croatia, but they can be
grown elsewhere, and so they are because you can make
some good mone off of them. Australia and New Zealand,
North America, Israel and Morocco and Argentina and Chile. These days,
(05:06):
China is a big player in the market, with millions
of acres of truffles, although according to what I read,
the taste isn't as desirable. Apparently they're less flavorful than
some European truffles, but do resemble them in color, and
so are sometimes fraudulently sold as European truffles, sometimes even
with synthetic flavoring at it. Indeed. Okay, so part of
(05:27):
why truffles are so expensive because they are very expensive
if you didn't know, truffles are pricey. Um. Part of
that is because they are more choosy than other mushrooms
about where they'll grow, and they are symbiotic fungi. Um,
they'll only grow in unison with the roots of certain
types of trees and shrubs. In terms of the European types,
(05:49):
that's like a like like good sturdy, temperate trees like
a pine's beaches, poplars, oaks, hazels, stuff like that. And
how they work is the fungus will grow these long
filaments around like the long fingers of tree roots, and
they'll steal sugars from the trees roots and in return
provide nutrients into the soil that the tree can use.
So it's it's a win win situation. And so that
(06:11):
means that you can't just grow truffles the way that
you can grow other macro fungi like mushrooms, like in
trays of substrate in big vertical indoor farms. You have
to grow the trees and then you can introduce the
fungus and then you just sort of hope that it works.
It's all underground. So there are hundreds of species of truffles, though,
(06:35):
oh yeah. Um. The three main ones that you'll find
in European cuisines, in descending order of strength, of flavor
and therefore of expense, are white truffles, which are pale
all the way through, black truffles, which are dark all
the way through, and summer truffles, which have a dark
skin but a lighter interior and are harvested in the summer,
as opposed to white and black tuffles, which are harvested
(06:57):
in the fall and winter or winter in earth spring rather. Yes, anyway,
all of these are in the genus tuber but there
are also desert truffles, which prefer arid growing conditions and
appear throughout appropriate regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The
word truffles may come from the Arabic turf us, which
is a term for these desert species and also where
(07:20):
one of their genus names steps from. Makes sense. What
about the nutrition, Well, you're probably not eating enough truffles
for them to really be nutritive one way or another,
unless you're like an evil, super evil rich villain or
something like caviar and truffles all the time. Yeah, yeah,
(07:41):
washing it all down with like with like super rare
brandy or something like that extremely European super villain that
we've created. I like it. Um, But they do pack
a pretty good nutritive punch. Um. Lots of vitamins and minerals,
fiber and protein, bunch of other good stuff. And there's
so much research going into the medical functions of compounds
(08:02):
found in mushrooms and truffles these days, as you may
have noticed by the Internet trying to sell you mushroom
tea all the heck in time. Gosh, that's right anyway. Yeah, antioxidants,
anti microbials, you know, modulating compounds, anti tumor stuff, anti inflammatories,
more researchers needed. Human bodies are complicated. Always check with
(08:25):
the doctor before trying to intake a medicinal quantities of anything. Yes,
the safer slogan. Yes, need to get it printed somewhere.
I don't know why, are how, but we'll do it.
T shirt idea, all right, numbers we do have some
in The then largest truffle on record was discovered in Croatia,
(08:47):
wing thirteen point one kilo's. The owner named it Millennium
and had a duplicate bronze cast made. And if you're
wondering why I didn't talk about the current record holders,
because I lets talk about that one. Oh wow, that's
beautiful Millennium. You know it's the whole. That's true. That's true.
(09:09):
Got a name your truffle like it. These days, there
are over two hundred truffle orchards in the United States,
with Oregon as the top producer. There's also something called
the North American Truffling Society. The society has dips on
all kinds of things, including the training of truffle dogs.
(09:31):
Every day they're truffling exactly. There are so many like
pop culture references. It's the truffle shuffle. I keep thinking
about knives out when he says truffle pigs, and I
was so proud that I knew what that was because
at one time I wouldn't have theres no slide on
anyone else. But at one time I would not have
known that what that joke meant. I mean, oh, the
(09:51):
trouble with truffles. Oh there you. This is part of
my title process. I feel like that peek behind the curtains,
thank you, you're welcome, and then giggling inns first. Oh yeah,
pretty much silent office. That's very important. Yeah, if I'm
not freaking out our coworkers by laughing raucously to myself
(10:13):
at least once a day, I feel like I'm doing
it wrong. I agree, um, the American South actually has
our own species of truffle, the pecan truffle, which grows
alongside pecan trees. Researchers are looking into helping farmers cultivate
it as a you know, extra source of money. Cool
Australia is also getting in on the game. Apparently they're
(10:33):
black truffles go over real well in France. Huh, Well,
good for them, because fans seems to be little chos.
They are very particular. Yes, yes, and we do have
some more on that we do. Within the next decade,
the international shuffle market is anticipated to reach six billion dollars.
One reason for this is, yes, truffles are expensive. They
(10:56):
can be really, really expensive. We're talking three tho dollars
a pound for white truffles from the Italian Piedmont or
nine for southwestern Frances black truffles, the so called black
diamonds they rank is one of the world's most expensive foods.
Some restaurants keep their supply of shuffles in safe So
(11:16):
why is that. Well, For one, their numbers are much
lower today than they once were thanks to things like
climate change. We're talking an annual harvest of about two
thousand tons to twenty tons over the span of about
a century, like that massive drop. Yeah yeah. And the
thing is is that in regions of Europe where truffles grow, um,
(11:37):
summers are getting drier, and these tuber species like it
pretty damp. Yeah, and they don't store super well the aroma,
which is a pretty important part of the experience. Sometimes
it's gone within a week. This relative rarity and high
price means that truffles are frequently the target of food
I still no. No. Indeed, a couple of years back
(11:58):
in twelve criminal sol sixty thou dollars worth of product
from one of the Italian warehouses of the world's largest
truffle purveyor Chinese truffles, which run about thirty dollars a pound. Yes,
they're sometimes passed off as they're far more expensive European counterparts,
like it's estimated thirty of the premium truffle market contains
(12:20):
these truffles. And then okay, there's also fake truffle oil
from at the Vine over at Serious Eats. Comparing at
truffle oil to real truffles is like comparing sniffing dirty
underwear to having sex. And I had I could have
chosen from that were almost equally as angry at truffle oil.
(12:46):
Gordon Ramsey, Uh, Anthony Ordaine. No, they don't do not
in truck with it. No, don't, don't. Approved might as
well not even have it, like you are fired from
any cooking at all. Get out. It's like bringing it
like you need to bring in an exorcist if you use.
People have opinion about truffle. I feel like I do too.
(13:09):
I don't. I certainly don't have any negative opinions about it. Well,
that's just fine. I'm I Maybe maybe I just haven't
you know, maybe I'm wrong and I just haven't had
access to the truffle substance to make myself right. Yeah.
Maybe it's that underdeveloped palette thing. Yeah, we haven't had
(13:31):
a lot of truffles. True. True. In France, truffles eason
means increased police roadblocks. Yeah, stopping cars with suspicious packages
in them. Um. Truffle hunters keep their hunting ground secret,
passing down the location to the next generation. A shortage
of French truffles resulted in a spree of crime around truffles.
(13:54):
Armed robberies and raids. Truffle trees and shuffle dogs were stolen,
and one dog was ransom for one million Italian leer.
A shuffle producer shot an unarmed man attempting to steal
his truffles, and he was eventually sentenced to eight years
in prison for murder. Wow, yeah, it's serious. It is serious.
(14:15):
Huh huh. Indeed, we're gonna get back to the shuffle
dogs a little bit towards the end. Josh Ozerski, the
late food writer, wrote of the smell of shuffles as
quote a combination of newly plowed soil, fall, rain, burrowing earthworms,
and the pungent memory of lost youth and old love affairs. Wow,
(14:37):
I know, I love how it's you know, soil, earthworms,
lost us in love affairs. Perfect. After trying black truffles
for the first time, author PAULA. Wolford described them quote
like earth and sky and sea. I felt at one
with nature. That my mouth was filled with the taste
of the earth. There was a ripeness, a naughtiness, something
(14:58):
beyond description. It was utter luxury and earthiness combined. Wow,
we're missing out. I apparently also like, this is a
lot to say about a fungus, And I love it.
I know, I love I love how she describes it.
As utter luxury and earthiness because it is it is
just the fungus that comes from the ground, that comes
(15:20):
from the ground. You dig it up, you you know,
get something that can smell it, you dig it up,
and then it's worth three thousand dollars a pound. Maybe,
Like that's wild. It is very wild. History is a
little wild, it is. And we will get into that
right after we get back from a quick break for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsored, Yes,
(15:49):
thank you. So it shouldn't come as a surprise. Truffles
have been around a long time. Uh yeah, Like the
actual organism has been around since like the Jurassic or
Triassic um um. And there's evidence that folks in North
Africa and the Middle East have been eating them since
prehistoric times. Throughout Africa, people have eaten them or used
(16:09):
them as medicine for thousands of years at least. Yes,
an ancient nomadic group originating and what is now Syria,
the m Rights, shocked the sensibilities of settled Mesopotamians when
they dug up and devour truffles, among other things. They
did a lot of other things that shocking to the
Mespotanians but one was, yes, they ate these things from ground.
(16:30):
Once this group, the m rights found a place to
settle for themselves. During the Middle Bronze Age um, a
clay tablet from this period recounts an argument between the
king and the governor of the truffle producing district, accusing
the governor of hoarding the good truffles for himself and
sending the king the last desirable one. The governor defended
(16:53):
the only sit along the harvesters sent him. The troubles
in question were, yes, desert truffle, and this was a
variety important in Middle Eastern history. Mentions of them appeared
in the fourth century Talmud, and eleventh and twelfth century
physicians recommended them for all kinds of things, from vomiting
to weakness. Also, one dude, if I remember correctly, recommended
(17:14):
not eating them because it would make you it would
lessen your life span. Really, it would decrease your longevity. Okay, yes, yes,
because I misread it exactly. And we do have the
quote from the uh So this is from the governor
of that province, of the province, and this was his
(17:36):
response to the king, and this was like four thousand
years ago. Yes, all right. So Ever, since I reached
sagar Rotten five days ago, I have continuously dispatched truffles
to my lord. But my lord wrote to me, you
have sent me bad truffles, But my Lord ought not
to condemn me with regards to the troubles. I have
(17:57):
sent my lord what they picked for me. With regards
to the truffles. Is a nice touch. It implies there
are other criticisms that could be. I love that so much,
I'm gonna the next time I'm defending myself, I'm gonna
throw in like like man like, don't be down on
(18:19):
me with regards to the trifles exactly. Never been dishonest
to you with regards to the troufles. It's such a
great little disclaimer, so good. Ancient Romans picked up the
eating of truffles from the Etruscans, which was a civilization
of ancient Italy, and Plenty mentioned them in the first
(18:41):
century CE, describing his belief that they were a random
product of elemental Earth. And this is actually a recurring
theme of people trying to figure out where what is this?
It doesn't grow a plant like other plants exactly, but
it's edible. Much confusion, but from the ground tastes like
round weird. Plenty out a whole story to back up
(19:04):
his idea about a dude who bit into a truffle
and almost lost a tooth on a coin hidden inside.
I think I know what he was trying to say,
but I do feel like there's some historical shenanigans, like
I'm not picking up on something he's putting down. But anyway,
he did write about that. Around the same time, the
philosopher Plutarch wrote of his belief that truffles were produced
(19:25):
when a bolt of lightning struck a combo of water
and earth, and there you go, there you go. Ancient
Romans were big fans, and third century CE emperor Marcus
Aurelius Antonius really went all in on them at one
of his feast, serving truffles soaked with cows utters and
alongside cinnamon flavored peacock tongues and flamingo brains. That is specific.
(19:50):
It is very specific, Okay. Popular Roman recipes at the
time called for skeward truffles to be grilled, and fats
are bold and sauces or wrapped in fat and then
fire grilled. My gosh, I want that right now. I
don't even know what I want. I don't It's this
is like watching Iron Chef, Like I'm like, I have
no idea what that food is, but I want to
(20:12):
eat it so much. Yeah, okay, and yeah, these Roman
truffles and also Greek truffles around the same time, would
have been imported from North Africa, So these all would
have been probably the desert species, right exactly. Records suggests
ancient Pharaohs and George truffles as well. Apparently, apparently a
(20:34):
poem about truffles has been found in Egyptian temples, translating
to something to the extent of without leaves, without buds,
without flowers. Yet they formed fruit as a food, as
a tonic, as a medicine. The entire creation is precious.
That's lovely. Yes, I love food poetry, right, so my
favorite poetry either that whole thing in Japan? Were they
(20:56):
right that cous about the sea cucumvers? How could this exist?
And I should be so lucky to partake in it.
I've never read any of those. Oh you have got
to duly noted, We'll do. Throughout history, truffles have been
viewed as an aphrodisiac. Oh yeah, yeah, going back to
(21:17):
those original truffles that I was talking about. Yes, yes,
I know, I know. We say that about literally almost
every food but lettuce, everything that lettuce, But this truffles
really really were. The physician Gallen wrote of them, the
truffle is very nourishing and causes general excitation conducive to
(21:40):
sensual pleasure over an ancient Greece, Aristotle and Pythagas wrote
about the truffles aphrodisiac properties. I mean it got to
the point the Church was like, nah, yes, because truffles
weren't as popular in Europe during medieval times when the
theory of the humors advice avoiding foods growing from the ground.
But also, yes, the Church not like this reputation that
(22:02):
they had for being an afronesiac, which played into the
rebranding of truffles as a food for peasants and which
is okay and which is possibly in their love potions
o tricksy witches. So tricksy shuffles started making a comeback
though in Europe in the fourteenth century with the adoption
of the black truffle by the aristocracy, and in the
(22:24):
fifteenth century, Italian nobles and diplomats would exchange gifts of
white shuffles. There's an entire book written about this. It
was sort of a way of communicating I know what's
up with these underground things, and I know they spoiled quickly,
so I took the time, effort money to get it
to you. Also, they were kind of particular a place,
so it's sort of similar to when you go visit
(22:45):
someone and they're like, Okay, here's get me a tokyo banana,
exactly very much like that. Um and also now you
owe me a favorite because I did all these things,
or like get me a pineapple, Like go to MAUI
get me a pineapple. Right, Yeah, same kind of thing.
During the eighteenth century, French author Marquis de Sades used
truffles on his victims. His name is the source of sadism,
(23:09):
particularly in the sexual context. I've never heard of this guy.
I learned so much. I learned so much. I was
like Fodo fuo. Oh, there's there's a whole film that
they made about him a bunch of years back. Gosh,
I feel very old thinking about how long ago that
came out. But but Jeffrey Rush played him. It's it's
(23:31):
super interesting, Okay, for the research. His erotic works were
banned in France until nineteen fifty seven. I will repeat
banned in France until nineteen Very contentious, dude, Yes, although
his ancestors seemed to be totally riding on the wave
(23:54):
of him and they're trying to bring him back. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, OK,
if you're interested fascinating stuff. Jean Aslam Boulat Savarin wrote
of truffles, whoever says truffle pronounces a great word which
awakens erotic and gourmand ideas, both in the sex dressed
(24:17):
in petticoats and the bearded portion of humanity. Okay, interesting
way of describing humanity ab the two sexes. Yees I
I wish that he could see modern drag shows. Oh
my gosh, you'd be like full braid explode. I want
(24:38):
that too, anyway. In his eighty one book Memorials of
Gormandizing Great Name William Makepeace, Thackeray wrote, Presently we were
aware of an odor gradually coming towards us, something musky, fiery, savory, mysterious,
a hot, drowsy smell that lulls the senses and yet
inflames them. The truffles were me there's so many good
(25:03):
quotes about this, and this is a much better story
than Winter is Coming, Like this is that's true, that's true.
I mean I still want to do I have an
idea for a Winter Soldiers coming. Oh, but I need
somebody to dress as John Snow and like Harold my
Arrival or something like that. I'm work shopping it. But
(25:28):
the idea is there, and we have another quote. Alexandre
Dumas wrote about truffles and his eighteen seventy one work
Grand de nantic Cuisine. He wrote, the truffle is not
a positive approdusiac, but on occasion it can make women
more loving and men more lovable. This is powerful stuff,
(25:51):
it is, but they were also relatively common at the time,
like like, apparently black truffles where the posh thing to
stuff your Christmas turkey with In France around the turn
of the twentieth century, whoa, that seems like a really
powerful turkey. That does, but you're like battling the sleepiness
and the afrodz ac thing in Italian hotel owner Giacomamura
(26:16):
changed the truffle world with an interesting marketing campaign. He
was the founder of the first company to market white
truffles commercially tart Fimura and this is the one I
mentioned earlier. This is the largest preferyer of these types
of truffles. His best at Truffle of the Year ad
campaign involves sending the so called best truffle to celebrities, athletes,
(26:38):
and politicians, including Rita Hayworth, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Joe DiMaggio,
President Dwight Eisenhower, and Marilyn Monroe, who raved in a
letter to Mora, I have never tasted anything so tasty
and exciting. About a decade after the campaign, Morris Company
was shipping hundreds of thousands of boxes to high end
(26:59):
rest drunts around the world anti diplomats. Yes. Simultaneous with
this campaign was something that came to be known in
that region as truffle Fair, where you might find a
tasting of truffles paired with wines of the region. It
disappeared during World War Two, but came back at the
war's end two huge success. I can see why. That's
(27:19):
another thing that I want. Yes, truffles and wine pery right.
It was another way of saying, like, look what our
region has offered, these wines and truffles. In the nineteen seventies,
some American producers started trying their hands at truffles, but
they didn't have much success. Yeah, truffle science was just
starting to advance at that time, like scientists working with
(27:40):
the French National Agricultural Research Institute were setting out how
to use truffle spores to inoculate the roots of tree saplings,
making it more likely that the grown tree would harbor truffles.
In the eighties and nineties, Chinese truffles began being sold
in mass in European markets, though not all your pan markets.
Apparently they were banned in Italy like at least for
(28:04):
a time, like none of those out, only the ones
that you can get at trouble Fare. Research into creating
an electronic system for sniffing out truffles goes back to
at least and fascinatingly to me, although occasional results have
been published, it doesn't look like there are any like
(28:26):
products on the market that do this even to this day. Interesting.
Did you see the news article about the police have
that ultra sniffer thing now and it looks so it
looks like you put a telescope on your nose. No,
I haven't what. Yeah, so I wonder if maybe we're
(28:46):
getting closer. And although you will look very silly, but
if they are trauffles at the end, maybe it's worth it.
Maybe it's worth Maybe someone has invented a very accurate
traffle sniffer, but they're keeping it to themselves. That would
not surprise me at all, not at all. In fact,
that just seems makes sense. It wouldn't be until the
(29:08):
two thousand's that some of the American efforts started to
pay off, which is right around the time Oprah fell
in love with truffles and fell in love was telling
everybody about it. Huh, yeah, I missed that, but cool
I didn't didn't come across my radar, but I appreciated it. Also.
(29:28):
In two eight French researchers freaked write the heck out
when they found a species of those Chinese truffles growing
in Europe. They were afraid that these Chinese truffles would
compete for resources with native species and even edge them
out over time. They even expressed concern that like mal agents,
(29:49):
might introduce Chinese truffles on purpose in order to ruin
their market. The letter that they published in the journal
New Phytologists, which is my new favorite general titles. The
letter was titled, is the paragord black truffle threatened by
an invasive species? We dreaded it and it has happened.
(30:09):
Exclamation point. That was the that's the title. I mean,
I don't know what's a serious I think it's the
only time I've ever seen a research paper, or not
a research paper. It's a letter, but with an exclamation
point in the title. And thus, I am this wasn't
two thousand eight. I love it. I mean, I'm sorry.
(30:32):
I mean I I hope, I hope that it's not
an invasive species, and certainly not that it's being introduced
on purpose. That would be terrible, but right intrigue, yes, well,
In scientists mapped out the genome of the pedagod black truffle.
Nine of the thirteen thousand proteins contribute to the truffles smell,
(30:55):
including a steroidal pheromone found in the saliva of male
pigs and dressed known. This is why female pigs are
sometimes used to hunt truffles. But the thing is, it's
hard to stop the pigs from eating the truffles when
they find them, so dogs are typically preferred. Also, dogs
(31:16):
are a little more subtle than pigs. Sees a pig
in your car, Yeah, they're pretty much like, oh, you're
going truffle hunting exactly. However, these trained dogs can cost
over five thousand dollars. That same pheromone, by the way,
is found in a human males under arm sweat. Right,
(31:37):
And okay, so so research shows that um, that the
female pigs are not just looking for that pheromone, like, like,
they tested this using real truffles and synthetic truffle scent
and like just the pheromone, and those tests found that
pigs will go for real or synthetic truffle smells but
(31:57):
will ignore just the pheromone. But like, maybe this connection
to dude sweat is part of why truffles have been
considered an aphrodisiac. Yeah, there's definitely. I found a research
paper that was looking into specifically humans, why have we
(32:18):
thought their approduisia for so long while we're people so
certain about it. There was a whole paper it was
pretty much, yeah, look at all these pheromones are that
are involved in these kinds of sexual things and they're
not sure, but that's their suspicions. Yeah, yeah, and and
perhaps not that it even has those affrodisiac qualities, but
(32:40):
just that the scent reminds you of a person, and
so you're like, oh sure, right, cool, yeah yeah, human
associations and food items and we're we're just weird, just weird.
Food scent is definitely an interesting category. I don't I
(33:01):
feel like there aren't too many other foods I can
think of where we have used pigs and dogs to
find them. And if you've ever seen it, you should
watch it. It's fascinating. They're just kind of rooting around
because they are againting they're underground. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I am not very deep underground. I mean you know,
(33:22):
like I don't know, like six inches to a foot
maybe or less perhaps, but yeah, and uh but yeah,
it's it's really hard, like humans can't really smell that,
so we've used animals that have been able to smell that,
or maybe secret electronics um these days. But yeah, I
mean really, it's just like it's just like, well, you
(33:43):
could either dig up the soil around a bunch of
tree roots or if you can use an animal to
do it right, or you can find out which trees
have them and then go back year after year all
secret like, yes, yes, and then that is why you
want want to know I'm looking around as if so,
I don't have any access to any truffles. Okay, no, no,
(34:07):
neither of us. Do we promise and you can trust us. Yeah,
we would not like to you in regards to the truffles.
Not in regards to the struffles. No. Never. Well, on
that note, we're about done with the topic of troubles
for today, but we do have a little bit more
for you. But first we've got one more quick break
(34:28):
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes,
thank you, We're back with listener man. All right, I
(34:51):
was going to attempt to do like a pig sound,
but then I was like, oh yeah, even though I've
got to draw the line somewhere. Yeah, that not an aphrodisiac.
Well well, well, anyway, Ethany wrote this morning, I was
listening to the new episode of Stouse Importers and around
minute nine and he talks about a visit to Woodya's
(35:13):
here in Atlanta, and you'll never believe where I happened
to work. Yes, I have been working at our new
location in Buckheads since we opened back in October, and
could you imagine my shock. I was standing in the
middle of the kitchen when I heard your story about
a man explaining how malt works, something even I still
struggle with understanding. I had to run and show the
owners and laugh out loud. This wouldn't be the first
(35:36):
time you've mentioned a job of mine. Back when you
were still food stuff someone mentioned visiting Crawfish Seafood show.
Oh they're great. Used to work there. Oh gosh, thank you.
Since working on my degree, I've worked in food industry
and learned so much through experiences. But having you guys
give me some of the science behind the scenes feeds
my nerdy little soul. Oh awesome. I didn't know there's
(35:57):
a location bucket. Yeah, me neither to go out. This
is new to me right, Oh gosh, absolutely field trip, Yeah,
Ellen wrote, I was thrilled to hear you talking about
Alberta again in your Paroguie episode. Of course, I had
to google it because I wasn't sure where it might be.
I wasn't surprised to learn it's up north. There's a
huge Ukrainian Canadian population in that part of the province.
(36:17):
I have a friend who lives in St. Paul, who
I visit every Labor Day long weekend and they have
a local rodeo that weekend, and there's usually a five
dollar parougie lunch one day of the weekend, and the
proceeds go to the local sports teams. I'm pretty sure
they're all made and donated by the moms and grandma's
of the town. I also wanted to tell you that
not far from there, Vigraville. I hope I said that right, Vigraville, Alberta,
(36:40):
also has a giant Ukrainian Easter egg. It's pretty cool.
I detoured to visit it my first trip out to
visit my friend. This year, I'll have to go to
Glendon to see the PEROGEI thanks for the podcast. I
will try to remember to send you a picture of
my dog with the perogue, but September is a long
way away. I can't promise anything. Hope, please do that
would be so good? Yes, yes, And also Ellen wasn't
(37:03):
the only one who wrote in about this, and she
and some other listeners wrote in and told us spelling
parogi with a y is due to the Ukrainian heritage.
Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The spelling in
her email is p E r O g Y. Learning
something new all the time, spelling. Oh yes, goodness, my gracious,
(37:27):
it's been a struggle this week. People spelling things a
lot of different ways, which can make researching a little difficult.
That's just one of the pleasures of being in the
podcasting world. Oh yes, oh yes. Thanks to both of
them for writing in. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savor
pod dot com. We're also in social media and you
(37:49):
can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at savor pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, you can visit the i Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way. H
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Anny Rees and I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today
we're talking about truffles. Not the chocolate. No, no, that
the fungus. But I I would put money on there
is a chocolate truffle with truffle truffle. Oh, I believe it.
I will hopefully not just like a chunk of it,
(00:27):
because that would be a very expensive truffle, but maybe hopefully.
I don't know. I guess y'all do what you want
to um with your truffles and your truffles. Truffles and truffles.
That's a show right there. I don't know what it
is yet, but that's a show. I'll think about it, okay. Um.
I was trying to remember if I've ever had truffles.
I think didn't we have them when we were at
(00:49):
Disney Food and Wine. I think we had like something
with truffles in it. I think there was a pastry,
maybe like a pastry with s cargo filling and maybe
some truffle butter. Yeah. I don't know why that was
a very specific memory for me. I'm like, oh, yes,
four years ago, this thing that we ate at Disney.
I definitely remember, well, it was quite That was the
(01:09):
halfway point, so I think that was when we were
having the moment of yeah, yeah, and I was I
was so happy because I had like a glass of
Vivaco and uh, I had my stupid sun hat and
I had embarrassed myself speaking French to some poor French
kid at Epcot. And it was a wonderful time, it
(01:32):
really was. And then I ate this beautiful pastry and
I was like, all is good with the world. Yes
it was. The sun was shining. Wonderful, wonderful. And then
we were also talking about truffle fries, which I have had.
Oh yeah, I love it. Truffle fry. Um. Apparently truffle
oil is slightly um contentious. I would say perhaps more
(01:56):
than slightly perhaps when we will get into that. And
I did want to give a quick shout out to
our old friends local company Beautiful Brinie Sea. They have
trouffle sea salt. Yes, they have a number of excellent
sea salt blends, um, but their truffle salt is probably
my favorite because it just adds this beautiful savory kick
(02:17):
to things and oh it's really good. Yeah, it was
definitely my favorite, I think, and I ran out of
it first, and I had more of it than any
she gave us. She was very kind to the owner,
and she gave us a bunch of samples of the
types of salt and sugars that they have. Yeah, and
by samples we mean like occasionally full yeah, like a
(02:37):
tough packages of them, but delicious. Yes, yeah, oh check
check them out if you ever have a chance to.
I think that they're carried by Williams. Snowman. Definitely their
sugar is Yeah, Amy Sadarius involved in that, right, Oh,
those sprinkles that she makes. Oh okay, alright, alright, we're
getting we're getting away from ourselves. All right. Don't let
(02:57):
me just start talking about Amy Sadarius because I will, oh,
okay later later part of that, but all right, for now,
let's get direct question. Truffles. What are they? Well, truffles
are a cousin of mushrooms that grow underground instead of
above ground, and thus, instead of growing a fruit with
(03:19):
a wide cap so that they can release their spores
out into the air, they fold in on themselves and
develop spores inside those inner folds. They wind up looking
like a like a tuber sort of potato e. One
genus of treffles is called tuber and truffles flavors can
vary depending on the species and the growth conditions, of course,
(03:39):
but um they tend to be funky and earthy and savory.
Researchers have found at least two hundred a Roman compounds
and truffles, and at least thirty seven that like directly
contribute to humans perception of specifically white truffles characteristic flavors. Though.
The one, the one compound that all truffles seem to
have in common is dime the sulfide, which is this
(04:01):
like funky, earthy, rotten cabbage, ripe cheese human fart aroma compound.
So it's interesting that says that says something about humanity.
I'm not sure what. I love humans all right, but yeah, yeah,
(04:23):
those aromas are not just to remind us of farts.
They're they're in evolutionary reproduction mechanism because truffles depend on
animals like burrowing rodents to eat their fruit and poop
their spores in a new location. And since truffles grown
to ground, that strong scent draws those animals to them. Yes, mm, hmmmmm. Oh,
and those white truffles that I mentioned have been in
(04:46):
European cuisine anyway, the most prized, the most prized variety
of European truffles have traditionally been found in smallest regions
of France, Spain, Italy and Croatia, but they can be
grown elsewhere, and so they are because you can make
some good mone off of them. Australia and New Zealand,
North America, Israel and Morocco and Argentina and Chile. These days,
(05:06):
China is a big player in the market, with millions
of acres of truffles, although according to what I read,
the taste isn't as desirable. Apparently they're less flavorful than
some European truffles, but do resemble them in color, and
so are sometimes fraudulently sold as European truffles, sometimes even
with synthetic flavoring at it. Indeed. Okay, so part of
(05:27):
why truffles are so expensive because they are very expensive
if you didn't know, truffles are pricey. Um. Part of
that is because they are more choosy than other mushrooms
about where they'll grow, and they are symbiotic fungi. Um,
they'll only grow in unison with the roots of certain
types of trees and shrubs. In terms of the European types,
(05:49):
that's like a like like good sturdy, temperate trees like
a pine's beaches, poplars, oaks, hazels, stuff like that. And
how they work is the fungus will grow these long
filaments around like the long fingers of tree roots, and
they'll steal sugars from the trees roots and in return
provide nutrients into the soil that the tree can use.
So it's it's a win win situation. And so that
(06:11):
means that you can't just grow truffles the way that
you can grow other macro fungi like mushrooms, like in
trays of substrate in big vertical indoor farms. You have
to grow the trees and then you can introduce the
fungus and then you just sort of hope that it works.
It's all underground. So there are hundreds of species of truffles, though,
(06:35):
oh yeah. Um. The three main ones that you'll find
in European cuisines, in descending order of strength, of flavor
and therefore of expense, are white truffles, which are pale
all the way through, black truffles, which are dark all
the way through, and summer truffles, which have a dark
skin but a lighter interior and are harvested in the summer,
as opposed to white and black tuffles, which are harvested
(06:57):
in the fall and winter or winter in earth spring rather. Yes, anyway,
all of these are in the genus tuber but there
are also desert truffles, which prefer arid growing conditions and
appear throughout appropriate regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The
word truffles may come from the Arabic turf us, which
is a term for these desert species and also where
(07:20):
one of their genus names steps from. Makes sense. What
about the nutrition, Well, you're probably not eating enough truffles
for them to really be nutritive one way or another,
unless you're like an evil, super evil rich villain or
something like caviar and truffles all the time. Yeah, yeah,
(07:41):
washing it all down with like with like super rare
brandy or something like that extremely European super villain that
we've created. I like it. Um, But they do pack
a pretty good nutritive punch. Um. Lots of vitamins and minerals,
fiber and protein, bunch of other good stuff. And there's
so much research going into the medical functions of compounds
(08:02):
found in mushrooms and truffles these days, as you may
have noticed by the Internet trying to sell you mushroom
tea all the heck in time. Gosh, that's right anyway. Yeah, antioxidants,
anti microbials, you know, modulating compounds, anti tumor stuff, anti inflammatories,
more researchers needed. Human bodies are complicated. Always check with
(08:25):
the doctor before trying to intake a medicinal quantities of anything. Yes,
the safer slogan. Yes, need to get it printed somewhere.
I don't know why, are how, but we'll do it.
T shirt idea, all right, numbers we do have some
in The then largest truffle on record was discovered in Croatia,
(08:47):
wing thirteen point one kilo's. The owner named it Millennium
and had a duplicate bronze cast made. And if you're
wondering why I didn't talk about the current record holders,
because I lets talk about that one. Oh wow, that's
beautiful Millennium. You know it's the whole. That's true. That's true.
(09:09):
Got a name your truffle like it. These days, there
are over two hundred truffle orchards in the United States,
with Oregon as the top producer. There's also something called
the North American Truffling Society. The society has dips on
all kinds of things, including the training of truffle dogs.
(09:31):
Every day they're truffling exactly. There are so many like
pop culture references. It's the truffle shuffle. I keep thinking
about knives out when he says truffle pigs, and I
was so proud that I knew what that was because
at one time I wouldn't have theres no slide on
anyone else. But at one time I would not have
known that what that joke meant. I mean, oh, the
(09:51):
trouble with truffles. Oh there you. This is part of
my title process. I feel like that peek behind the curtains,
thank you, you're welcome, and then giggling inns first. Oh yeah,
pretty much silent office. That's very important. Yeah, if I'm
not freaking out our coworkers by laughing raucously to myself
(10:13):
at least once a day, I feel like I'm doing
it wrong. I agree, um, the American South actually has
our own species of truffle, the pecan truffle, which grows
alongside pecan trees. Researchers are looking into helping farmers cultivate
it as a you know, extra source of money. Cool
Australia is also getting in on the game. Apparently they're
(10:33):
black truffles go over real well in France. Huh, Well,
good for them, because fans seems to be little chos.
They are very particular. Yes, yes, and we do have
some more on that we do. Within the next decade,
the international shuffle market is anticipated to reach six billion dollars.
One reason for this is, yes, truffles are expensive. They
(10:56):
can be really, really expensive. We're talking three tho dollars
a pound for white truffles from the Italian Piedmont or
nine for southwestern Frances black truffles, the so called black
diamonds they rank is one of the world's most expensive foods.
Some restaurants keep their supply of shuffles in safe So
(11:16):
why is that. Well, For one, their numbers are much
lower today than they once were thanks to things like
climate change. We're talking an annual harvest of about two
thousand tons to twenty tons over the span of about
a century, like that massive drop. Yeah yeah. And the
thing is is that in regions of Europe where truffles grow, um,
(11:37):
summers are getting drier, and these tuber species like it
pretty damp. Yeah, and they don't store super well the aroma,
which is a pretty important part of the experience. Sometimes
it's gone within a week. This relative rarity and high
price means that truffles are frequently the target of food
I still no. No. Indeed, a couple of years back
(11:58):
in twelve criminal sol sixty thou dollars worth of product
from one of the Italian warehouses of the world's largest
truffle purveyor Chinese truffles, which run about thirty dollars a pound. Yes,
they're sometimes passed off as they're far more expensive European counterparts,
like it's estimated thirty of the premium truffle market contains
(12:20):
these truffles. And then okay, there's also fake truffle oil
from at the Vine over at Serious Eats. Comparing at
truffle oil to real truffles is like comparing sniffing dirty
underwear to having sex. And I had I could have
chosen from that were almost equally as angry at truffle oil.
(12:46):
Gordon Ramsey, Uh, Anthony Ordaine. No, they don't do not
in truck with it. No, don't, don't. Approved might as
well not even have it, like you are fired from
any cooking at all. Get out. It's like bringing it
like you need to bring in an exorcist if you use.
People have opinion about truffle. I feel like I do too.
(13:09):
I don't. I certainly don't have any negative opinions about it. Well,
that's just fine. I'm I Maybe maybe I just haven't
you know, maybe I'm wrong and I just haven't had
access to the truffle substance to make myself right. Yeah.
Maybe it's that underdeveloped palette thing. Yeah, we haven't had
(13:31):
a lot of truffles. True. True. In France, truffles eason
means increased police roadblocks. Yeah, stopping cars with suspicious packages
in them. Um. Truffle hunters keep their hunting ground secret,
passing down the location to the next generation. A shortage
of French truffles resulted in a spree of crime around truffles.
(13:54):
Armed robberies and raids. Truffle trees and shuffle dogs were stolen,
and one dog was ransom for one million Italian leer.
A shuffle producer shot an unarmed man attempting to steal
his truffles, and he was eventually sentenced to eight years
in prison for murder. Wow, yeah, it's serious. It is serious.
(14:15):
Huh huh. Indeed, we're gonna get back to the shuffle
dogs a little bit towards the end. Josh Ozerski, the
late food writer, wrote of the smell of shuffles as
quote a combination of newly plowed soil, fall, rain, burrowing earthworms,
and the pungent memory of lost youth and old love affairs. Wow,
(14:37):
I know, I love how it's you know, soil, earthworms,
lost us in love affairs. Perfect. After trying black truffles
for the first time, author PAULA. Wolford described them quote
like earth and sky and sea. I felt at one
with nature. That my mouth was filled with the taste
of the earth. There was a ripeness, a naughtiness, something
(14:58):
beyond description. It was utter luxury and earthiness combined. Wow,
we're missing out. I apparently also like, this is a
lot to say about a fungus, And I love it.
I know, I love I love how she describes it.
As utter luxury and earthiness because it is it is
just the fungus that comes from the ground, that comes
(15:20):
from the ground. You dig it up, you you know,
get something that can smell it, you dig it up,
and then it's worth three thousand dollars a pound. Maybe,
Like that's wild. It is very wild. History is a
little wild, it is. And we will get into that
right after we get back from a quick break for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsored, Yes,
(15:49):
thank you. So it shouldn't come as a surprise. Truffles
have been around a long time. Uh yeah, Like the
actual organism has been around since like the Jurassic or
Triassic um um. And there's evidence that folks in North
Africa and the Middle East have been eating them since
prehistoric times. Throughout Africa, people have eaten them or used
(16:09):
them as medicine for thousands of years at least. Yes,
an ancient nomadic group originating and what is now Syria,
the m Rights, shocked the sensibilities of settled Mesopotamians when
they dug up and devour truffles, among other things. They
did a lot of other things that shocking to the
Mespotanians but one was, yes, they ate these things from ground.
(16:30):
Once this group, the m rights found a place to
settle for themselves. During the Middle Bronze Age um, a
clay tablet from this period recounts an argument between the
king and the governor of the truffle producing district, accusing
the governor of hoarding the good truffles for himself and
sending the king the last desirable one. The governor defended
(16:53):
the only sit along the harvesters sent him. The troubles
in question were, yes, desert truffle, and this was a
variety important in Middle Eastern history. Mentions of them appeared
in the fourth century Talmud, and eleventh and twelfth century
physicians recommended them for all kinds of things, from vomiting
to weakness. Also, one dude, if I remember correctly, recommended
(17:14):
not eating them because it would make you it would
lessen your life span. Really, it would decrease your longevity. Okay, yes, yes,
because I misread it exactly. And we do have the
quote from the uh So this is from the governor
of that province, of the province, and this was his
(17:36):
response to the king, and this was like four thousand
years ago. Yes, all right. So Ever, since I reached
sagar Rotten five days ago, I have continuously dispatched truffles
to my lord. But my lord wrote to me, you
have sent me bad truffles, But my Lord ought not
to condemn me with regards to the troubles. I have
(17:57):
sent my lord what they picked for me. With regards
to the truffles. Is a nice touch. It implies there
are other criticisms that could be. I love that so much,
I'm gonna the next time I'm defending myself, I'm gonna
throw in like like man like, don't be down on
(18:19):
me with regards to the trifles exactly. Never been dishonest
to you with regards to the troufles. It's such a
great little disclaimer, so good. Ancient Romans picked up the
eating of truffles from the Etruscans, which was a civilization
of ancient Italy, and Plenty mentioned them in the first
(18:41):
century CE, describing his belief that they were a random
product of elemental Earth. And this is actually a recurring
theme of people trying to figure out where what is this?
It doesn't grow a plant like other plants exactly, but
it's edible. Much confusion, but from the ground tastes like
round weird. Plenty out a whole story to back up
(19:04):
his idea about a dude who bit into a truffle
and almost lost a tooth on a coin hidden inside.
I think I know what he was trying to say,
but I do feel like there's some historical shenanigans, like
I'm not picking up on something he's putting down. But anyway,
he did write about that. Around the same time, the
philosopher Plutarch wrote of his belief that truffles were produced
(19:25):
when a bolt of lightning struck a combo of water
and earth, and there you go, there you go. Ancient
Romans were big fans, and third century CE emperor Marcus
Aurelius Antonius really went all in on them at one
of his feast, serving truffles soaked with cows utters and
alongside cinnamon flavored peacock tongues and flamingo brains. That is specific.
(19:50):
It is very specific, Okay. Popular Roman recipes at the
time called for skeward truffles to be grilled, and fats
are bold and sauces or wrapped in fat and then
fire grilled. My gosh, I want that right now. I
don't even know what I want. I don't It's this
is like watching Iron Chef, Like I'm like, I have
no idea what that food is, but I want to
(20:12):
eat it so much. Yeah, okay, and yeah, these Roman
truffles and also Greek truffles around the same time, would
have been imported from North Africa, So these all would
have been probably the desert species, right exactly. Records suggests
ancient Pharaohs and George truffles as well. Apparently, apparently a
(20:34):
poem about truffles has been found in Egyptian temples, translating
to something to the extent of without leaves, without buds,
without flowers. Yet they formed fruit as a food, as
a tonic, as a medicine. The entire creation is precious.
That's lovely. Yes, I love food poetry, right, so my
favorite poetry either that whole thing in Japan? Were they
(20:56):
right that cous about the sea cucumvers? How could this exist?
And I should be so lucky to partake in it.
I've never read any of those. Oh you have got
to duly noted, We'll do. Throughout history, truffles have been
viewed as an aphrodisiac. Oh yeah, yeah, going back to
(21:17):
those original truffles that I was talking about. Yes, yes,
I know, I know. We say that about literally almost
every food but lettuce, everything that lettuce, But this truffles
really really were. The physician Gallen wrote of them, the
truffle is very nourishing and causes general excitation conducive to
(21:40):
sensual pleasure over an ancient Greece, Aristotle and Pythagas wrote
about the truffles aphrodisiac properties. I mean it got to
the point the Church was like, nah, yes, because truffles
weren't as popular in Europe during medieval times when the
theory of the humors advice avoiding foods growing from the ground.
But also, yes, the Church not like this reputation that
(22:02):
they had for being an afronesiac, which played into the
rebranding of truffles as a food for peasants and which
is okay and which is possibly in their love potions
o tricksy witches. So tricksy shuffles started making a comeback
though in Europe in the fourteenth century with the adoption
of the black truffle by the aristocracy, and in the
(22:24):
fifteenth century, Italian nobles and diplomats would exchange gifts of
white shuffles. There's an entire book written about this. It
was sort of a way of communicating I know what's
up with these underground things, and I know they spoiled quickly,
so I took the time, effort money to get it
to you. Also, they were kind of particular a place,
so it's sort of similar to when you go visit
(22:45):
someone and they're like, Okay, here's get me a tokyo banana,
exactly very much like that. Um and also now you
owe me a favorite because I did all these things,
or like get me a pineapple, Like go to MAUI
get me a pineapple. Right, Yeah, same kind of thing.
During the eighteenth century, French author Marquis de Sades used
truffles on his victims. His name is the source of sadism,
(23:09):
particularly in the sexual context. I've never heard of this guy.
I learned so much. I learned so much. I was
like Fodo fuo. Oh, there's there's a whole film that
they made about him a bunch of years back. Gosh,
I feel very old thinking about how long ago that
came out. But but Jeffrey Rush played him. It's it's
(23:31):
super interesting, Okay, for the research. His erotic works were
banned in France until nineteen fifty seven. I will repeat
banned in France until nineteen Very contentious, dude, Yes, although
his ancestors seemed to be totally riding on the wave
(23:54):
of him and they're trying to bring him back. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, OK,
if you're interested fascinating stuff. Jean Aslam Boulat Savarin wrote
of truffles, whoever says truffle pronounces a great word which
awakens erotic and gourmand ideas, both in the sex dressed
(24:17):
in petticoats and the bearded portion of humanity. Okay, interesting
way of describing humanity ab the two sexes. Yees I
I wish that he could see modern drag shows. Oh
my gosh, you'd be like full braid explode. I want
(24:38):
that too, anyway. In his eighty one book Memorials of
Gormandizing Great Name William Makepeace, Thackeray wrote, Presently we were
aware of an odor gradually coming towards us, something musky, fiery, savory, mysterious,
a hot, drowsy smell that lulls the senses and yet
inflames them. The truffles were me there's so many good
(25:03):
quotes about this, and this is a much better story
than Winter is Coming, Like this is that's true, that's true.
I mean I still want to do I have an
idea for a Winter Soldiers coming. Oh, but I need
somebody to dress as John Snow and like Harold my
Arrival or something like that. I'm work shopping it. But
(25:28):
the idea is there, and we have another quote. Alexandre
Dumas wrote about truffles and his eighteen seventy one work
Grand de nantic Cuisine. He wrote, the truffle is not
a positive approdusiac, but on occasion it can make women
more loving and men more lovable. This is powerful stuff,
(25:51):
it is, but they were also relatively common at the time,
like like, apparently black truffles where the posh thing to
stuff your Christmas turkey with In France around the turn
of the twentieth century, whoa, that seems like a really
powerful turkey. That does, but you're like battling the sleepiness
and the afrodz ac thing in Italian hotel owner Giacomamura
(26:16):
changed the truffle world with an interesting marketing campaign. He
was the founder of the first company to market white
truffles commercially tart Fimura and this is the one I
mentioned earlier. This is the largest preferyer of these types
of truffles. His best at Truffle of the Year ad
campaign involves sending the so called best truffle to celebrities, athletes,
(26:38):
and politicians, including Rita Hayworth, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Joe DiMaggio,
President Dwight Eisenhower, and Marilyn Monroe, who raved in a
letter to Mora, I have never tasted anything so tasty
and exciting. About a decade after the campaign, Morris Company
was shipping hundreds of thousands of boxes to high end
(26:59):
rest drunts around the world anti diplomats. Yes. Simultaneous with
this campaign was something that came to be known in
that region as truffle Fair, where you might find a
tasting of truffles paired with wines of the region. It
disappeared during World War Two, but came back at the
war's end two huge success. I can see why. That's
(27:19):
another thing that I want. Yes, truffles and wine pery right.
It was another way of saying, like, look what our
region has offered, these wines and truffles. In the nineteen seventies,
some American producers started trying their hands at truffles, but
they didn't have much success. Yeah, truffle science was just
starting to advance at that time, like scientists working with
(27:40):
the French National Agricultural Research Institute were setting out how
to use truffle spores to inoculate the roots of tree saplings,
making it more likely that the grown tree would harbor truffles.
In the eighties and nineties, Chinese truffles began being sold
in mass in European markets, though not all your pan markets.
Apparently they were banned in Italy like at least for
(28:04):
a time, like none of those out, only the ones
that you can get at trouble Fare. Research into creating
an electronic system for sniffing out truffles goes back to
at least and fascinatingly to me, although occasional results have
been published, it doesn't look like there are any like
(28:26):
products on the market that do this even to this day. Interesting.
Did you see the news article about the police have
that ultra sniffer thing now and it looks so it
looks like you put a telescope on your nose. No,
I haven't what. Yeah, so I wonder if maybe we're
(28:46):
getting closer. And although you will look very silly, but
if they are trauffles at the end, maybe it's worth it.
Maybe it's worth Maybe someone has invented a very accurate
traffle sniffer, but they're keeping it to themselves. That would
not surprise me at all, not at all. In fact,
that just seems makes sense. It wouldn't be until the
(29:08):
two thousand's that some of the American efforts started to
pay off, which is right around the time Oprah fell
in love with truffles and fell in love was telling
everybody about it. Huh, yeah, I missed that, but cool
I didn't didn't come across my radar, but I appreciated it. Also.
(29:28):
In two eight French researchers freaked write the heck out
when they found a species of those Chinese truffles growing
in Europe. They were afraid that these Chinese truffles would
compete for resources with native species and even edge them
out over time. They even expressed concern that like mal agents,
(29:49):
might introduce Chinese truffles on purpose in order to ruin
their market. The letter that they published in the journal
New Phytologists, which is my new favorite general titles. The
letter was titled, is the paragord black truffle threatened by
an invasive species? We dreaded it and it has happened.
(30:09):
Exclamation point. That was the that's the title. I mean,
I don't know what's a serious I think it's the
only time I've ever seen a research paper, or not
a research paper. It's a letter, but with an exclamation
point in the title. And thus, I am this wasn't
two thousand eight. I love it. I mean, I'm sorry.
(30:32):
I mean I I hope, I hope that it's not
an invasive species, and certainly not that it's being introduced
on purpose. That would be terrible, but right intrigue, yes, well,
In scientists mapped out the genome of the pedagod black truffle.
Nine of the thirteen thousand proteins contribute to the truffles smell,
(30:55):
including a steroidal pheromone found in the saliva of male
pigs and dressed known. This is why female pigs are
sometimes used to hunt truffles. But the thing is, it's
hard to stop the pigs from eating the truffles when
they find them, so dogs are typically preferred. Also, dogs
(31:16):
are a little more subtle than pigs. Sees a pig
in your car, Yeah, they're pretty much like, oh, you're
going truffle hunting exactly. However, these trained dogs can cost
over five thousand dollars. That same pheromone, by the way,
is found in a human males under arm sweat. Right,
(31:37):
And okay, so so research shows that um, that the
female pigs are not just looking for that pheromone, like, like,
they tested this using real truffles and synthetic truffle scent
and like just the pheromone, and those tests found that
pigs will go for real or synthetic truffle smells but
(31:57):
will ignore just the pheromone. But like, maybe this connection
to dude sweat is part of why truffles have been
considered an aphrodisiac. Yeah, there's definitely. I found a research
paper that was looking into specifically humans, why have we
(32:18):
thought their approduisia for so long while we're people so
certain about it. There was a whole paper it was
pretty much, yeah, look at all these pheromones are that
are involved in these kinds of sexual things and they're
not sure, but that's their suspicions. Yeah, yeah, and and
perhaps not that it even has those affrodisiac qualities, but
(32:40):
just that the scent reminds you of a person, and
so you're like, oh sure, right, cool, yeah yeah, human
associations and food items and we're we're just weird, just weird.
Food scent is definitely an interesting category. I don't I
(33:01):
feel like there aren't too many other foods I can
think of where we have used pigs and dogs to
find them. And if you've ever seen it, you should
watch it. It's fascinating. They're just kind of rooting around
because they are againting they're underground. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I am not very deep underground. I mean you know,
(33:22):
like I don't know, like six inches to a foot
maybe or less perhaps, but yeah, and uh but yeah,
it's it's really hard, like humans can't really smell that,
so we've used animals that have been able to smell that,
or maybe secret electronics um these days. But yeah, I
mean really, it's just like it's just like, well, you
(33:43):
could either dig up the soil around a bunch of
tree roots or if you can use an animal to
do it right, or you can find out which trees
have them and then go back year after year all
secret like, yes, yes, and then that is why you
want want to know I'm looking around as if so,
I don't have any access to any truffles. Okay, no, no,
(34:07):
neither of us. Do we promise and you can trust us. Yeah,
we would not like to you in regards to the truffles.
Not in regards to the struffles. No. Never. Well, on
that note, we're about done with the topic of troubles
for today, but we do have a little bit more
for you. But first we've got one more quick break
(34:28):
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes,
thank you, We're back with listener man. All right, I
(34:51):
was going to attempt to do like a pig sound,
but then I was like, oh yeah, even though I've
got to draw the line somewhere. Yeah, that not an aphrodisiac.
Well well, well, anyway, Ethany wrote this morning, I was
listening to the new episode of Stouse Importers and around
minute nine and he talks about a visit to Woodya's
(35:13):
here in Atlanta, and you'll never believe where I happened
to work. Yes, I have been working at our new
location in Buckheads since we opened back in October, and
could you imagine my shock. I was standing in the
middle of the kitchen when I heard your story about
a man explaining how malt works, something even I still
struggle with understanding. I had to run and show the
owners and laugh out loud. This wouldn't be the first
(35:36):
time you've mentioned a job of mine. Back when you
were still food stuff someone mentioned visiting Crawfish Seafood show.
Oh they're great. Used to work there. Oh gosh, thank you.
Since working on my degree, I've worked in food industry
and learned so much through experiences. But having you guys
give me some of the science behind the scenes feeds
my nerdy little soul. Oh awesome. I didn't know there's
(35:57):
a location bucket. Yeah, me neither to go out. This
is new to me right, Oh gosh, absolutely field trip, Yeah,
Ellen wrote, I was thrilled to hear you talking about
Alberta again in your Paroguie episode. Of course, I had
to google it because I wasn't sure where it might be.
I wasn't surprised to learn it's up north. There's a
huge Ukrainian Canadian population in that part of the province.
(36:17):
I have a friend who lives in St. Paul, who
I visit every Labor Day long weekend and they have
a local rodeo that weekend, and there's usually a five
dollar parougie lunch one day of the weekend, and the
proceeds go to the local sports teams. I'm pretty sure
they're all made and donated by the moms and grandma's
of the town. I also wanted to tell you that
not far from there, Vigraville. I hope I said that right, Vigraville, Alberta,
(36:40):
also has a giant Ukrainian Easter egg. It's pretty cool.
I detoured to visit it my first trip out to
visit my friend. This year, I'll have to go to
Glendon to see the PEROGEI thanks for the podcast. I
will try to remember to send you a picture of
my dog with the perogue, but September is a long
way away. I can't promise anything. Hope, please do that
would be so good? Yes, yes, And also Ellen wasn't
(37:03):
the only one who wrote in about this, and she
and some other listeners wrote in and told us spelling
parogi with a y is due to the Ukrainian heritage.
Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The spelling in
her email is p E r O g Y. Learning
something new all the time, spelling. Oh yes, goodness, my gracious,
(37:27):
it's been a struggle this week. People spelling things a
lot of different ways, which can make researching a little difficult.
That's just one of the pleasures of being in the
podcasting world. Oh yes, oh yes. Thanks to both of
them for writing in. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savor
pod dot com. We're also in social media and you
(37:49):
can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at savor pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, you can visit the i Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way. H
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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