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Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs
A captivating exploration into the secretive and sensuous world of truffles, the elusive food that has captured hearts, imaginations, and palates worldwide.
The scent of one freshly unearthed white truffle in Barolo was all it took to lead Rowan Jacobsen down a rabbit hole into a world of secretive hunts, misty woods, black-market deals, obsessive chefs, quixotic scientists, muddy dogs, maddening smells, and some of the most memorable meals ever created.
Truffles attract dreamers, schemers, and sensualists. People spend years training dogs to find them underground. They plant forests of oaks and wait a decade for truffles to appear. They pay $3,000 a pound to possess them. They turn into quivering puddles in their presence. Why?
Truffle Hound is the fascinating account of Rowan's quest to find out, a journey that would lead him from Italy to Istria, Hungary, Spain, England, and North America. Both an entertaining odyssey and a manifesto, Truffle Hound demystifies truffles-and then remystifies them, freeing them from their gilded cage and returning them to their roots as a sacred offering from the forest. It helps people understand why they respond so strongly to that crazy smell, shows them there's more to truffles than they ever imagined, and gives them all the tools they need to take their own truffle love to the next level. Deeply informed, unabashedly passionate, rakishly readable, Truffle Hound will spark America's next great culinary passion.
The scent of one freshly unearthed white truffle in Barolo was all it took to lead Rowan Jacobsen down a rabbit hole into a world of secretive hunts, misty woods, black-market deals, obsessive chefs, quixotic scientists, muddy dogs, maddening smells, and some of the most memorable meals ever created.
Truffles attract dreamers, schemers, and sensualists. People spend years training dogs to find them underground. They plant forests of oaks and wait a decade for truffles to appear. They pay $3,000 a pound to possess them. They turn into quivering puddles in their presence. Why?
Truffle Hound is the fascinating account of Rowan's quest to find out, a journey that would lead him from Italy to Istria, Hungary, Spain, England, and North America. Both an entertaining odyssey and a manifesto, Truffle Hound demystifies truffles-and then remystifies them, freeing them from their gilded cage and returning them to their roots as a sacred offering from the forest. It helps people understand why they respond so strongly to that crazy smell, shows them there's more to truffles than they ever imagined, and gives them all the tools they need to take their own truffle love to the next level. Deeply informed, unabashedly passionate, rakishly readable, Truffle Hound will spark America's next great culinary passion.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 5, 2021
About the author
Rowan Jacobsen
17 books70 followersRowan Jacobsen is the James Beard Award-winning author of A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America, Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis, and The Living Shore, about our ancient connection to estuaries and their potential to heal the oceans. He has written for the New York Times, Newsweek, Harper’s, Outside, Eating Well, Forbes, Popular Science, and others, and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and Best Food Writing collections. Whether visiting endangered oystermen in Louisiana or cacao-gathering tribes in the Bolivian Amazon, his subject is how to maintain a sense of place in a world of increasing placelessness. His 2010 book, American Terroir, was named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by Library Journal. His newest, Shadows on the Gulf: A Journey Through Our Last Great Wetland, was released in 2011. His Outside Magazine piece “Heart of Dark Chocolate” received the 2011 Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for best adventure story of the year. He is a 2012 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow, writing about endangered diversity on the borderlands between India, Myanmar, and China.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
October 11, 2022
Rowan Jacobsen is an award-winning American author who writes about nature, science, sustainability and food. Jacobsen has an agreeably jaunty writing style, and his narrative is fun-filled and sprinkled with popular references.
Author Rowan Jacobsen
In this book Jacobsen explores the world of truffles - aromatic underground fungi that resemble rough-skinned potatoes and grow in woodlands. In scientific terms, truffles are the subterranean fruiting bodies of filamentous fungi that have a symbiotic relationship with trees. The mycorrhiza (filaments) of the fungi transfer soil nutrients to trees, and the trees provide food for the fungi.
Truffles are underground fruiting bodies of filamentous fungi.
Truffles are culinary delicacies much prized by fine chefs and food cognoscenti; thus they're very much coveted and extremely expensive.
Chef Fabrizio Schenardi holding a plate of Alba white truffles.
Retail truffle prices in 2021
The most distinctive characteristic of a truffle is its scent, which stimulates delight and nostalgia in the human psyche. Jacobsen got his first sniff of a white truffle in a restaurant in northern Italy, and describes the fragrance as follows: "It was hardly a food scent at all. It was more like catching a glimpse of a satyr prancing across the dining room floor while playing its flute and flashing its hindquarters at you."
Rowan Jacobsen smelling a truffle.
Rowan Jacobsen compares the scent of a white truffle to a satyr prancing across the floor.
And a food writer portrayed the aroma of white truffles as "a combination of newly plowed soil, fall rain, burrowing earthworms and the pungent memory of lost youth and old love affairs." The perfume of white truffles has been described in more fathomable terms as having an "intense aroma of garlic, fried cheese, and gym socks"
White Truffles
Each variety of truffle has a unique fragrance, and the aromas are very variable. For instance, the smell of black winter truffles is characterized as "deep earth and forest floor, drenched in cocoa and cognac; layers of dried tobacco, sorghum and cured olive oil slowly unfold."
Black Winter Truffles
And Oregon white truffles have an aroma reminiscent of "a bouillabaisse of diesel [gas] and pine, mixed with salami, blue cheese, and a touch of model airplane glue."
Oregon White Truffles
The smell of truffles (apparently) appeals to animals as well as humans, because forest fauna dig them up and eat them, and truffle pigs and dogs trained to find truffles sometimes just scarf the fungi down themselves.
Pig rooting for truffles.
After Jacobsen's initial tantalizing whiff of the Italian white truffle, he decided he had to know everything about these subsurface delicacies, which - it turns out - grow all over the world. So for the next two years Jacobsen traveled to truffle-hunting regions, met truffle hunters and their truffle-sniffing dogs, joined truffle hunts, sampled foods flavored with truffles, interviewed mycologists, and had a rollicking good time.
Rowan Jacobsen with a giant truffle.
Jacobsen also researched the science of truffles and spoke to scientists and entrepreneurs trying to establish truffle farms. This is done by planting trees seeded with truffle spores and mycorrhizae, and is a very costly enterprise that takes years to bear fruit (so to speak).
Truffle farm
For his research Jacobsen traveled to Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Spain, England, the United States and Canada, and relates many stories about people he met, experiences he had, and anecdotes he heard. For instance, Jacobsen describes the start of the truffle industry in the town of Livade in Croatia as follows: One day in the 1920s, a local peasant brought a tavern owner a handful of ginger-colored tubers he's found in the woods and said, "Good day, sir, do you have any idea what these stinky potatoes are? I found them underground. My pigs love them. Too bad they're so repulsive." The tavern owner knew who to consult, the repulsive potatoes turned out to be very desirable truffles, and an industry was born.
Italy, Croatia, and Hungary have thriving truffle industries.
Truffle sellers at a market.
Truffle sales online
Though hunting and selling truffles is a legitimate occupation, it's still something of a clandestine industry in places, with deals going down in cash, in bars and parking lots....with flashlights examining the contents of car trunks. And in places like Hungary, truffle-hunting is reserved for privileged insiders who can afford to pay for licenses and permits. In fact truffle-hunting is a serious business in Hungary, which has a truffle museum, a Hungarian Federation of Truffling, Truffle Knights, a Patron Saint of Truffling (Saint Ladislaus), and a Grand Master of the Saint Ladislaus Order of Truffle Knights - a mycologist named Dr. Zoltán Bratek.
St. Ladislaus of Hungary
Dr. Zoltán Bratek is a Hungarian mycologist who's the Grand Master of the Saint Ladislaus Order of Truffle Knights.
Jacobsen describes going on a truffle hunt in Hungary, where he accompanied a truffle hunter called István Bagi and István's truffle dog Mokka, a black lab.
Istvan Bagi’s dog Mokka, a Labrador, searches for truffles in a forest near Jaszivany, east of Budapest.
Mokka is an exceptionally capable truffle dog who plunges into the woods, quickly returns to drop a black truffle into István's hand, then does it again. István tells the dog he doesn't want black truffles today, only whites, and the pooch promptly finds a poplar whose roots harbor white truffles, which István carefully digs out. Jacobsen writes, "For the next four hours, István and Mokka show me levels of truffle mastery I had no idea existed. Mokka crisscrosses the forest at a gentle canter, nose low, tail sweeping wide and slow....Through the day, the truffles keep coming. Big ones, small ones, stinky ones, but mostly nice and round ones." Truffle dogs are normally rewarded with lavish praise and treats, though Mokka occasionally rewards herself by eating a low-quality truffle István doesn't need.
Truffle hunting is big business, growing every day.....but inexperienced buyers should beware. For instance, in the 1990s some sellers mixed costly aromatic black truffles from southern Europe with unscented cheap (but similar looking) Chinese truffles, and charged top price. This scandal led to fines and a crackdown on the truffle industry.
Chinese Black Truffles
Folks who can't afford, or don't have access to real truffles, can flavor their food with cheap imitations - like truffle oils, salts, butters, sauces, honeys, zests, and so on.
Truffle products
Jacobsen uses these products on occasion and observes, "Every time, I regret it. The smell is a grotesque caricature of truffle, as subtle as a Yankee Candle store." The reason is that truffle oil has no truffle in it. It's just olive oil spiked with a synthetic chemical called 2,4-dithiapentane, which "gives a crude and heavy-handed impression of truffleness." Nevertheless, 'fake' truffle products are popular best-sellers in many circles.
For non-experts Jacobsen's book includes everything you want to know about truffles, including descriptions of different kinds of truffles; people in the truffle industry; tips for training truffle dogs; descriptions of truffle farming; resources for truffle experiences (truffle festivals and truffle hunts); and more. There are also lots of color photos and a helpful index at the end.
Monza is a Lagotto Romagnolo, a favorite breed for truffle hunting.
Margaret Townsend crisscrossing her family’s farm in Kentucky, following Monza, a truffle-sniffing dog hired for the day
This is a wonderfully entertaining and informative book for truffle novices and experts alike.
Some of the recipes in the book are:
Tarfufo Benedictus
Orange Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette
Chawanmushi Tartufi
Cacio e Pepe Con Tartufi Di Nero
Seared Scallops in Truffled Butter Broth
Truffle Duck
Tiramisu di Tartufi
Look yummy don't they?
Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy of the book.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
December 5, 2021
If you have a huge unfulfilled curiosity on the subject of truffles, this is the book for you.
If you are kind of interested in truffles and like Fine Cuisine in general, this is also the book for you.
If you, like me, don't have a major penchant for food beyond eating it, and your interest in and knowledge of truffles begins and ends with truffle fries, this is not really the book for you but it will still be interesting a good amount of the time.
Even as it hurts your feelings re: truffle fries being hated and fake.
Bottom line: Now I'm hungry. And it's still for truffle fries.
------------------
pre-review
some people want to read the origin stories of their favorite superhero, or film franchise. i want to read the origin story of the object that brought us the gift of truffle fries
update: turns out truffle fries are bad (?) according to this? so not exactly trustworthy.
interesting though.
review to come / 3.5 stars
clear ur shit prompt 2: a book with a journey
follow my progress here
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
If you are kind of interested in truffles and like Fine Cuisine in general, this is also the book for you.
If you, like me, don't have a major penchant for food beyond eating it, and your interest in and knowledge of truffles begins and ends with truffle fries, this is not really the book for you but it will still be interesting a good amount of the time.
Even as it hurts your feelings re: truffle fries being hated and fake.
Bottom line: Now I'm hungry. And it's still for truffle fries.
------------------
pre-review
some people want to read the origin stories of their favorite superhero, or film franchise. i want to read the origin story of the object that brought us the gift of truffle fries
update: turns out truffle fries are bad (?) according to this? so not exactly trustworthy.
interesting though.
review to come / 3.5 stars
clear ur shit prompt 2: a book with a journey
follow my progress here
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
August 6, 2022
This book pretty much brings you up to date on the current knowledge of all things truffle-related. If there's anything that Jacobsen doesn't know about truffles, it's not from lack of research.
It's also compellingly written. Jacobsen conveys sensory details with extraordinary facility. At one point, he does a quick rundown on how dogs see the world through smell, and I found it positively mind-blowing. A lot of it was facts that I knew, but somehow having them put together in that precise way with those precise words just drove everything home for me.
I love oddball nonfiction books like this one. It's a topic that I never really wondered about before, but presented in such an interesting and engaging style that made it irresistible. Highly recommended!
It's also compellingly written. Jacobsen conveys sensory details with extraordinary facility. At one point, he does a quick rundown on how dogs see the world through smell, and I found it positively mind-blowing. A lot of it was facts that I knew, but somehow having them put together in that precise way with those precise words just drove everything home for me.
I love oddball nonfiction books like this one. It's a topic that I never really wondered about before, but presented in such an interesting and engaging style that made it irresistible. Highly recommended!
June 16, 2021
*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.
Most people go crazy for truffles. It's just a fact (and I know some of you are reading this and going, uh no, it's disgusting; but well, the majority like it, so I'm sticking with it's just a fact). There's something primal, earthy about the taste that we can't get enough of. Or at least I thought. Turns out most of the truffle experiences we've had have been added chemicals to produce scent or flavor as a lot of truffles themselves don't have long shelf lives. Sure, you can find some products out there (and Jacobsen provides a nice resource reference at the end for this; alas the one I was going to order from was out of stock), but they're not the easiest to get outside of fine dining.
But that's ok, this book helps you identify and recognize not only pure products (and I should say I'm not disparaging the added flavor/scent chemicals, I'll take those on my popcorn any day), but also understand the history of the truffle industry and just why they command the price that they do.
He takes us through many different countries and practices, from Italy, to France, to Croatia and other surprising areas. My favorite chapter was the one about the USA and while homegrown truffles haven't really been on the menu (hopefully changing). Especially since a very special truffle is found in my region (if one has the dog to help find it that is). Whiel this information can get kind of repetitive between chapters (go to country, follow dog, hear how it's not been a great truffle year), the underlying information itself was good and I really got a better sense of all the questions and lore surrounding truffles.
I also like that there were some breaks in between this to talk about the research and development (inoculated truffle trees) used for trying to farm truffles; a traditionally difficult task.
This is definitely a book for either those who love truffles or those who love food history/origin stories.
Review by M. Reynard 2021
Most people go crazy for truffles. It's just a fact (and I know some of you are reading this and going, uh no, it's disgusting; but well, the majority like it, so I'm sticking with it's just a fact). There's something primal, earthy about the taste that we can't get enough of. Or at least I thought. Turns out most of the truffle experiences we've had have been added chemicals to produce scent or flavor as a lot of truffles themselves don't have long shelf lives. Sure, you can find some products out there (and Jacobsen provides a nice resource reference at the end for this; alas the one I was going to order from was out of stock), but they're not the easiest to get outside of fine dining.
But that's ok, this book helps you identify and recognize not only pure products (and I should say I'm not disparaging the added flavor/scent chemicals, I'll take those on my popcorn any day), but also understand the history of the truffle industry and just why they command the price that they do.
He takes us through many different countries and practices, from Italy, to France, to Croatia and other surprising areas. My favorite chapter was the one about the USA and while homegrown truffles haven't really been on the menu (hopefully changing). Especially since a very special truffle is found in my region (if one has the dog to help find it that is). Whiel this information can get kind of repetitive between chapters (go to country, follow dog, hear how it's not been a great truffle year), the underlying information itself was good and I really got a better sense of all the questions and lore surrounding truffles.
I also like that there were some breaks in between this to talk about the research and development (inoculated truffle trees) used for trying to farm truffles; a traditionally difficult task.
This is definitely a book for either those who love truffles or those who love food history/origin stories.
Review by M. Reynard 2021
February 3, 2024
Really fascinating and well-written. I learned a lot about truffles and had a good time learning.
October 20, 2023
The book even smells like truffles!!! 😋
August 4, 2021
Where to begin?! To a rabid truffle lover who enjoys truffle hunting, this unmissable book is absolutely sublime! Written in a witty and engaging style and resplendent with tradition, culture and information, this is a must read for anyone remotely interested in this beguiling fungi. Though I know a ton about truffles, I learned a lot here. Amazing, amazing stuff. Though non fiction, the writing flows conversationally, definitely NOT textbookish. The author travels all over to discover truffles for himself and the book is chock full of his brilliant and often amusing adventures.
Truffles are like nothing else on the planet. When asked to describe the aroma, taste and texture words fail me. The aroma is mysterious, elusive, foresty, earthy, intoxicating and pure magic (though you can't taste magic, this is an exception); the texture reminiscent of sliced almonds and the taste is mild but glorious. The aroma is evocative and transportive and brings tears to my eyes. No joke. I love that the author uses descriptions of several people to convey their experiences. He describes mycorrhiza which is crucial to the understanding of truffles. He also discusses fake truffle products, truffle dogs (I love the prevalence of dogs here!), truffle festivals, where and how they grow, "mating types", different species and even includes mouthwatering recipes!
Much of my truffle experience is from Istria, Croatia but have enjoyed eating truffles in other countries. However, to me nothing compares to the Tuber magnatum pico or Istrian white truffle which is harvested September to January. I live part time in Istria and cannot get enough of this fungi, especially with lightly-scrambled eggs, shaved over pasta and with fresh late figs drizzled with honey and walnuts, served with fresh cheeses. Always, always raw. The author includes a recipe for truffled duck which is divine with black truffles. The Beet Carpaccio with Truffles and Walnuts looks breathtaking as well. For the curious, festivals are excellent and these are highlighted as well.
The Oregon Grand Truffle Dinner is fascinating to read about. So is the information about the truffles which grow in Australia where lime must be added to the soil. They can even grow in comparatively cold Quebec! As the author says, it is about finding the right techniques for your area. But the best bits to me are those where the author spends time hunting and harvesting with locals. My first experience was during the dead of night with a hunter who had never taken anyone hunting before. He spoke no English but that didn't prevent us from enjoying it. Hunters' passion, enthusiasm and pride are infectious which is the experience of the author, too.
My sincere thank you to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this awesome and wondrous book! I could not have loved it more.
Truffles are like nothing else on the planet. When asked to describe the aroma, taste and texture words fail me. The aroma is mysterious, elusive, foresty, earthy, intoxicating and pure magic (though you can't taste magic, this is an exception); the texture reminiscent of sliced almonds and the taste is mild but glorious. The aroma is evocative and transportive and brings tears to my eyes. No joke. I love that the author uses descriptions of several people to convey their experiences. He describes mycorrhiza which is crucial to the understanding of truffles. He also discusses fake truffle products, truffle dogs (I love the prevalence of dogs here!), truffle festivals, where and how they grow, "mating types", different species and even includes mouthwatering recipes!
Much of my truffle experience is from Istria, Croatia but have enjoyed eating truffles in other countries. However, to me nothing compares to the Tuber magnatum pico or Istrian white truffle which is harvested September to January. I live part time in Istria and cannot get enough of this fungi, especially with lightly-scrambled eggs, shaved over pasta and with fresh late figs drizzled with honey and walnuts, served with fresh cheeses. Always, always raw. The author includes a recipe for truffled duck which is divine with black truffles. The Beet Carpaccio with Truffles and Walnuts looks breathtaking as well. For the curious, festivals are excellent and these are highlighted as well.
The Oregon Grand Truffle Dinner is fascinating to read about. So is the information about the truffles which grow in Australia where lime must be added to the soil. They can even grow in comparatively cold Quebec! As the author says, it is about finding the right techniques for your area. But the best bits to me are those where the author spends time hunting and harvesting with locals. My first experience was during the dead of night with a hunter who had never taken anyone hunting before. He spoke no English but that didn't prevent us from enjoying it. Hunters' passion, enthusiasm and pride are infectious which is the experience of the author, too.
My sincere thank you to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this awesome and wondrous book! I could not have loved it more.
October 17, 2021
A little bit of Langdon Cook's "The Mushroom Hunters" and a little bit of Tom Mueller's "Extra Virginity," Truffle Hound is full of fascinating tidbits about the history, origins, and hunting of truffles. And, like the other books, it takes pleasure in poking holes in many of our perceptions and myths. (Truffle oil? 2,4-dithiapentane.) Not groundbreaking, but fun, though possibly a little jarring for those with an interest in truffles and their place in "fine dining."
April 10, 2022
I think that Ian Purkayastha's "Truffle Boy" has a more compelling story, from a true truffle fiend, but this was interesting at times.
> nobody buys truffles based on smell. The ultimate aromatic ingredient sells on looks alone. Everyone wants smooth, round, golfball-sized truffles that they can shave tableside into perfect wafers for their big-spending clients.
> She was driving down to the New Jersey warehouse, and hadn’t had breakfast, and happened to have some useless shards of white truffle in the cooler. So she bought a bagel—toasted so the cream cheese was warm enough to awaken the truffle vapors—and grated the broken truffle shards all over it. Zelda sighs wistfully, summoning her inner Proust, and maybe her inner Byron, too. “That may have been the best thing I ever ate.”
> A dog nose has inner flaps that control the direction of airflow. New breaths come straight in through the nostrils, but when a dog exhales, the flaps close and shunt the old air out the sides of the slits. In this way, a dog is able to continuously breathe in fresh samples of a scent trail—unlike humans, who contaminate and disperse the evidence with every exhalation.
> dog noses have two channels: one leads to the lungs, the other branches off into a cul-de-sac of fine passages lined with a hundred times as many olfactory receptors as we have. Because this branch isn’t en route to the lungs, dogs can give their olfactory receptors more time to process the contents of any particular sniff.
> In the 1970s, French mycologists learned how to inoculate oak or hazelnut seedlings with black winter spores and trigger mycorrhization. Today virtually all black winter truffles are farmed. Spain is tops, France a distant second, but up-and-comer Australia produces the best of all—or so the Australians said. … Even better, Australia’s seasons are inverted. Instead of December through March, the truffles are ripe June through August, when there’s no competition
> “Sometimes I think she thinks God is on the other end of the hole,” Charles mutters. (Later, when I read Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life, I will discover with a curse that I’m not the first writer to whom Charles has fed this irresistible line.)
> Oregon truffles don’t start to ripen until mid-January, but what little demand there was for native truffles tended to be around the holidays, the traditional time to enjoy European truffles. The result was that the truffles that came to market had all the allure of unripe peaches. Third, Oregon truffles have very short shelf life,
> Fats of all kinds readily absorb truffle volatiles, and they actually hold onto those essences better than a freshly sliced truffle, from which the gases quickly dissipate. Hence the beef tallow candles. Ruff also has twelve pounds of lardo infusing with Oregon whites in the walk-in, as well as pounds of butter, cream, and eggs, the three classic truffle buddies. “Avocado is my favorite,” Michael Baines chimes in. “Cashews are my second favorite.”
> nobody buys truffles based on smell. The ultimate aromatic ingredient sells on looks alone. Everyone wants smooth, round, golfball-sized truffles that they can shave tableside into perfect wafers for their big-spending clients.
> She was driving down to the New Jersey warehouse, and hadn’t had breakfast, and happened to have some useless shards of white truffle in the cooler. So she bought a bagel—toasted so the cream cheese was warm enough to awaken the truffle vapors—and grated the broken truffle shards all over it. Zelda sighs wistfully, summoning her inner Proust, and maybe her inner Byron, too. “That may have been the best thing I ever ate.”
> A dog nose has inner flaps that control the direction of airflow. New breaths come straight in through the nostrils, but when a dog exhales, the flaps close and shunt the old air out the sides of the slits. In this way, a dog is able to continuously breathe in fresh samples of a scent trail—unlike humans, who contaminate and disperse the evidence with every exhalation.
> dog noses have two channels: one leads to the lungs, the other branches off into a cul-de-sac of fine passages lined with a hundred times as many olfactory receptors as we have. Because this branch isn’t en route to the lungs, dogs can give their olfactory receptors more time to process the contents of any particular sniff.
> In the 1970s, French mycologists learned how to inoculate oak or hazelnut seedlings with black winter spores and trigger mycorrhization. Today virtually all black winter truffles are farmed. Spain is tops, France a distant second, but up-and-comer Australia produces the best of all—or so the Australians said. … Even better, Australia’s seasons are inverted. Instead of December through March, the truffles are ripe June through August, when there’s no competition
> “Sometimes I think she thinks God is on the other end of the hole,” Charles mutters. (Later, when I read Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life, I will discover with a curse that I’m not the first writer to whom Charles has fed this irresistible line.)
> Oregon truffles don’t start to ripen until mid-January, but what little demand there was for native truffles tended to be around the holidays, the traditional time to enjoy European truffles. The result was that the truffles that came to market had all the allure of unripe peaches. Third, Oregon truffles have very short shelf life,
> Fats of all kinds readily absorb truffle volatiles, and they actually hold onto those essences better than a freshly sliced truffle, from which the gases quickly dissipate. Hence the beef tallow candles. Ruff also has twelve pounds of lardo infusing with Oregon whites in the walk-in, as well as pounds of butter, cream, and eggs, the three classic truffle buddies. “Avocado is my favorite,” Michael Baines chimes in. “Cashews are my second favorite.”
January 31, 2022
I was at the library, killing time while waiting for my boys to come down from the Young Adult section, when the title of this book caught my eye in the new nonfiction section. There is just something catchy to the name "Truffle Hound". I read the description, and thought, "Do I really want to read an entire book about truffles?" The answer to that question was no, so I put it back. But then... well...there was just something about this book that spoke to me. So I took it back off the shelf and brought it home. I'm glad I did! It's not so much a book as a journey - I found myself rooting for the people and the dogs as they hunted for the best truffles. I salivated over descriptions of scents and dreamy dishes. And I celebrated the successes of those attempting to grow and harvest their own forests of truffles. Excellent read!
January 5, 2022
Loved this book which has all my fav topics....food, nature, science, dogs (especially working dogs), travel, history, culture, quirky people, even a bit of espionage in the truffle market-- and sex! (Who knew truffles won't be made without male and female canoodling of truffle fungi?!?)
A solid five star with a listing of types with photos and stats, resources on truffle buying, truffle hunts and festivals, dog training outfits --and recipes.
Excellent writing which will have me check out the author's other books.
P.S. While I picked up a small bottle of white truffle oil today, I don't know which way I vote on truffles but this book will make me experiment a bit -- within budget!
A solid five star with a listing of types with photos and stats, resources on truffle buying, truffle hunts and festivals, dog training outfits --and recipes.
Excellent writing which will have me check out the author's other books.
P.S. While I picked up a small bottle of white truffle oil today, I don't know which way I vote on truffles but this book will make me experiment a bit -- within budget!
November 26, 2021
Interestineg look at where truffles grow and the people and dogs who love them.
September 5, 2022
“Scents bypass the higher brain, instantly imprinting on emotion and memory without interpretation. They are pure experience, unmediated by language, which explains why they’re so hard to describe with words.”
I picked up this book expecting to learn about truffles, and i definitely did. What I didn’t expect was beautiful prose that was just a pleasure to read.
At the start of the book I was enchanted by the writing and the stories and hungry to read as much as I could about truffles. However, towards the end I felt the writing quality faded slightly and it read more like a history textbook or Wikipedia article.
If like me you love truffles and want to learn more, I definitely recommend this book. If not, this book probably isn’t for you.
I picked up this book expecting to learn about truffles, and i definitely did. What I didn’t expect was beautiful prose that was just a pleasure to read.
At the start of the book I was enchanted by the writing and the stories and hungry to read as much as I could about truffles. However, towards the end I felt the writing quality faded slightly and it read more like a history textbook or Wikipedia article.
If like me you love truffles and want to learn more, I definitely recommend this book. If not, this book probably isn’t for you.
June 26, 2021
A great book about food informs you, excites you, and inspires you to learn more - Rowan Jacobsen's Truffle Hound does exactly that. This book follows Jacobsen across the world as he learns about truffles - different varieties, how they're grown, who farms/forages for them, whether or not the truffle oil we see at the supermarket has any real truffle in it, who runs 'Big Truffle,' etc.,
If you're a casual foodie, you're probably somewhat familiar with truffles. They're expensive, they've got a strong odor, and they have a reputation for being one of the most luxurious foods out there. As we meet different truffle experts throughout the book, we learn that the world of truffles is far more vast than this expensive/smelly stereotype. Sure, there are very official and serious truffle companies in Italy and France, but there are also people in Croatia trying to revitalize their hometown's agrotourism market with truffles. Heck, there are a few innovative farms experimenting with new growth techniques in the US!
When I tend to read books about food, I err more towards memoir and avoid books with lots of history. Sometimes it reads too dry, too removed from the rest of the story. This book was a pleasant surprise in that regard; Jacobsen deftly moved between personal experience, journalistic profiling, and recapping significant points in history.
If I have any critique, it's that the end felt a little rushed. I wanted to spend more time with the author as he experimented with truffle hunting, just as we had spent time with farmers and foragers earlier in the book. This is a very minor quibble, though.
Thank you to to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you're a casual foodie, you're probably somewhat familiar with truffles. They're expensive, they've got a strong odor, and they have a reputation for being one of the most luxurious foods out there. As we meet different truffle experts throughout the book, we learn that the world of truffles is far more vast than this expensive/smelly stereotype. Sure, there are very official and serious truffle companies in Italy and France, but there are also people in Croatia trying to revitalize their hometown's agrotourism market with truffles. Heck, there are a few innovative farms experimenting with new growth techniques in the US!
When I tend to read books about food, I err more towards memoir and avoid books with lots of history. Sometimes it reads too dry, too removed from the rest of the story. This book was a pleasant surprise in that regard; Jacobsen deftly moved between personal experience, journalistic profiling, and recapping significant points in history.
If I have any critique, it's that the end felt a little rushed. I wanted to spend more time with the author as he experimented with truffle hunting, just as we had spent time with farmers and foragers earlier in the book. This is a very minor quibble, though.
Thank you to to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 20, 2021
The foodie in me, and as someone who is enamored with truffles, I was super excited to read this book. I thought this was going to be a lofty exploration and “opinionated” book about the journey of truffles, but I was wrong. Oh boy, was I wrong. This is so, so, so much more!
As someone who is only ever so often ordering truffle fries (which, as this book will clearly elucidate to you, are not the mana we all make them out to be!) and truffle mac n’ cheese, I was truly unfamiliar with the superhero that the truffle is, it’s origin story, how it is manipulated, and how it has come to be the king of fine dining. The author also paints a beautiful picture of the symbiosis that occurs between nature (trees in particular) and truffles.
Who would have a thought that a shriveled, wrinkly thing that looks like spoiling baby potatoes has such a rich history, and can be so sought after? This book really opens your eyes to the journey of the truffle, how the culinary world today has adulterated the products we so often come to think of as “truffle oil”, and ends up being an excellent resource of pure truffle products.
As someone who does not often read such books - this one ended being a real delight!
As someone who is only ever so often ordering truffle fries (which, as this book will clearly elucidate to you, are not the mana we all make them out to be!) and truffle mac n’ cheese, I was truly unfamiliar with the superhero that the truffle is, it’s origin story, how it is manipulated, and how it has come to be the king of fine dining. The author also paints a beautiful picture of the symbiosis that occurs between nature (trees in particular) and truffles.
Who would have a thought that a shriveled, wrinkly thing that looks like spoiling baby potatoes has such a rich history, and can be so sought after? This book really opens your eyes to the journey of the truffle, how the culinary world today has adulterated the products we so often come to think of as “truffle oil”, and ends up being an excellent resource of pure truffle products.
As someone who does not often read such books - this one ended being a real delight!
January 13, 2022
What a wonderful nonfiction book! My husband got it from the library and recommended it! Glad that I read it! I have never had a truffle, but this geography, growing, hunting, problems and cooking truffles was a terrific read and so much learned. I thought truffles were only hunted in Europe, but it turns out that they are here in America and are being cultivated here and other places as well. I thought pigs hunted truffles, but it turns out that pigs eat them, so hunters train dogs to find them. This book explains how truffles are found and showcases some of the hunters, sellers and distributors of truffles in a most interesting narrative. The only reason this book did not get a five star rating is that toward the end, there was too much on the different types of truffles. I loved the pictures in the book, especially those of the hunters and their dogs. I learned that many truffle items, like salt and oil, do not actually have truffle in them, but are treated with a chemical that supposedly smells like truffle. So buyer, beware! Hopefully in this lifetime, I will taste a real truffle to see what all the fuss is about.
December 21, 2021
Truffe Hound : On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent (2021) by Rowan Jacobsen is a gem of a book about truffles. The book is no 2,4 Dithiapentane, it’s the real deal. Not that such things don’t have their place.
For anyone pondering whether or not to read the book there is an episode of the Econtalk podcast that features Jacobsen talking about the book.
The book describes how truffles are found and farmed across Europe and North America. Truffle hunters, dealers and scientists fill the pages. Truffles are hard to find, and also very hard to grow, only some varieties have been successfully grown. The people involved in the trade in the book differ substantially but all are interesting characters.
The book intersperses the tales of individuals involved in the truffle business with a history of eating truffles and some of the fairly newly discovered science about truffles. Jacobsen does a good job of this and so the book is fun to read as well as being very informative.
Truffle Hound is a well written, highly enjoyable book on the famous fungus.
For anyone pondering whether or not to read the book there is an episode of the Econtalk podcast that features Jacobsen talking about the book.
The book describes how truffles are found and farmed across Europe and North America. Truffle hunters, dealers and scientists fill the pages. Truffles are hard to find, and also very hard to grow, only some varieties have been successfully grown. The people involved in the trade in the book differ substantially but all are interesting characters.
The book intersperses the tales of individuals involved in the truffle business with a history of eating truffles and some of the fairly newly discovered science about truffles. Jacobsen does a good job of this and so the book is fun to read as well as being very informative.
Truffle Hound is a well written, highly enjoyable book on the famous fungus.
August 20, 2022
Fascinating. I knew nearly nothing of truffles, so I found this well-written introduction illuminating. I suspect aficionados will either love it or hate it; Jacobsen brings some tough love. The stories are entertaining, the chapter about "K" laugh-out-loud hilarious. It was a fun adventure to follow across Europe and the U.S., touching on the science, history, and culture of the tuber. One Quebecois truffler could sell tickets to the show his dog puts on. Don't miss the secret chapter after the acknowledgements: To be fair I cry over advertisements, but the tale of one heroic underdog brought a tear to my eye.
Never having had an authentic truffle experience myself, I suspect craving truffles entails "insta-love" or a taste acquired over time, if at all. What I've tried previously could only have been the dread "2,4-d", and it certainly didn't take. So now all I have to do is find the real thing, and fresh. Which is a challenge because there are no culinary truffles growing where I live . . . Or are there?
Never having had an authentic truffle experience myself, I suspect craving truffles entails "insta-love" or a taste acquired over time, if at all. What I've tried previously could only have been the dread "2,4-d", and it certainly didn't take. So now all I have to do is find the real thing, and fresh. Which is a challenge because there are no culinary truffles growing where I live . . . Or are there?
January 14, 2022
This book is a foodie’s delight. Rowan Jacobsen is obsessed with the truffle and takes the reader on a tour of “truffeling”.
If you happened to watch recent TV food shows like Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy and Phil Rosenthal’s I’ll Have What Phil’s Having that takes the viewer to culinary cities, you will enjoy the story of Truffle Hound.
Jacobsen provides a brief historical look at how truffles were originally found by pigs and now trained dogs to search out the delectable fungi.
Jacobsen spends most of his time travelling throughout the Piedmont and Umbria regions of Italy, but also roams through Hungary, Spain, England, and North America. He introduces the reader to so many really interesting people who know everything and more about the world of truffles.
Jacobsen has a keen sense of humour and sprinkles it throughout his narrative.
There's lots of back matter pages including 11 recipes.
Rowan Jacobsen is a James Beard award winning writer.
If you happened to watch recent TV food shows like Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy and Phil Rosenthal’s I’ll Have What Phil’s Having that takes the viewer to culinary cities, you will enjoy the story of Truffle Hound.
Jacobsen provides a brief historical look at how truffles were originally found by pigs and now trained dogs to search out the delectable fungi.
Jacobsen spends most of his time travelling throughout the Piedmont and Umbria regions of Italy, but also roams through Hungary, Spain, England, and North America. He introduces the reader to so many really interesting people who know everything and more about the world of truffles.
Jacobsen has a keen sense of humour and sprinkles it throughout his narrative.
There's lots of back matter pages including 11 recipes.
Rowan Jacobsen is a James Beard award winning writer.
July 29, 2021
An interesting non-fiction book. This is a world tour of everything you could ever want to know about truffles ... and it includes the United States. And then the book includes recipes ... mouthwatering recipes (that are also fun to read!).
I like a bit of non-fiction in my reading rotation. I consider myself a foodie, I like dogs; sounded perfect. And then I quickly came to the realization that I knew NOTHING about truffles, so it was an informative, interesting read filled with unique characters.
Enjoy the book, keep it for the recipes! And the index contains all sorts of truffle related contact information.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author Rowan Jacobsen and the publisher Bloomsbury USA/Bloomsbury Publishing; for the opportunity to review Truffle Hound in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is expected to be 05 Oct 2021.
I like a bit of non-fiction in my reading rotation. I consider myself a foodie, I like dogs; sounded perfect. And then I quickly came to the realization that I knew NOTHING about truffles, so it was an informative, interesting read filled with unique characters.
Enjoy the book, keep it for the recipes! And the index contains all sorts of truffle related contact information.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author Rowan Jacobsen and the publisher Bloomsbury USA/Bloomsbury Publishing; for the opportunity to review Truffle Hound in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is expected to be 05 Oct 2021.
November 15, 2021
Ever since watching The Truffle Hunters movie a few months ago I’ve immersed myself, and my dog, into the world of truffle hunting. Lira, my Australian Labradoodle, has been in truffle dog school for the last six weeks (her teacher is in the book, of course) and we are having fun learning about truffle hunting and she’s excelling at finding scented tins buried in the yard or in local parks. I figured it was a good way to extend her hunting season since she is a bird dog and also shed antler hunts, now she has one more job to do. This book got me really stoked about getting out for real when our local truffle season is in full swing and now I have to make the drive to Eugene for the Oregon Truffle Festival. Loved the stories of all the crazy hunters and their dogs as well as learning more about truffle history and truffle cultivation.
March 8, 2024
Such an interesting book. Rowan Jacobsen covers the cultural aspects of truffle hunting while going on the sometimes muddy forays to find them. He could be self-deprecating at times which was endearing. Most of the time the "hunters" accepted him on their usual trips to find the truffles, sometimes dragging him along, sometimes welcoming him.
I really liked the evolution that he presented of how the hunters treat their dogs, and the point is made how integral they are to finding truffles.
It's nice to know that there are truffles to be found in the U.S. and Canada.
I think he explained perfectly the experience that I had with my purchase of truffle potato chips in Italy - a rather putrid taste because of the chemical additive.
And recipes galore if I ever was able to find fresh truffles, along with a glossary of how to have truffles and truffle products shipped to you.
I really liked the evolution that he presented of how the hunters treat their dogs, and the point is made how integral they are to finding truffles.
It's nice to know that there are truffles to be found in the U.S. and Canada.
I think he explained perfectly the experience that I had with my purchase of truffle potato chips in Italy - a rather putrid taste because of the chemical additive.
And recipes galore if I ever was able to find fresh truffles, along with a glossary of how to have truffles and truffle products shipped to you.
August 31, 2021
Truffle Hound by Rowan Jacobsen is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early August.
Jacobsen carries a very similar on-the-ground tone as Michael Pollan, but can lean heavy on the passion, awe, and adoration of something quite a bit more. However, they're quite the tale weaver while evoking scenes in Italy, Kentucky, Washington state, Oregon, and the Appalachians of truffle hunters using trained dogs in lieu of pigs, imbibing the scent of a truffle, listing off the sheer amount of truffle-related production (all carrying a hefty pricetag) and happening upon other, perhaps equally mad aficionados and purveyors, whose families and fraternities go back several years.
Jacobsen carries a very similar on-the-ground tone as Michael Pollan, but can lean heavy on the passion, awe, and adoration of something quite a bit more. However, they're quite the tale weaver while evoking scenes in Italy, Kentucky, Washington state, Oregon, and the Appalachians of truffle hunters using trained dogs in lieu of pigs, imbibing the scent of a truffle, listing off the sheer amount of truffle-related production (all carrying a hefty pricetag) and happening upon other, perhaps equally mad aficionados and purveyors, whose families and fraternities go back several years.
March 28, 2024
Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Secretive Seductive Scent with Dreamers, Schemers and some Extraordinary Dogs is the full title of Rowan Jacobsen’s deep dive into the world of Truffles. Pretty much all I knew about truffles before reading this was that they are expensive and dug up by pigs in the wild. I didn’t know how widely they are spread across the world, that dogs now do most truffle hunting, and that you probably need to be slightly eccentric to be part of this world. Very interesting and engagingly written as Jacobsen satisfies his truffle itch around Europe and the USA.
Additional Information: Jacobsen is a food writer with a number of other books to his name.
Additional Information: Jacobsen is a food writer with a number of other books to his name.
August 12, 2021
I loved this book! It's definitely a niche subject, but so fascinating.
My husband and I were lucky enough to visit Istria, Croatia in 2019 during truffle season where I had my introduction to truffles. Of course, I was mystified. This book took me back to that lovely time - I loved reading about places I've been. But, it also taught me so much! Who knew truffles were grown in so many countries and that there are so many varieties! I can only hope to sample more in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
My husband and I were lucky enough to visit Istria, Croatia in 2019 during truffle season where I had my introduction to truffles. Of course, I was mystified. This book took me back to that lovely time - I loved reading about places I've been. But, it also taught me so much! Who knew truffles were grown in so many countries and that there are so many varieties! I can only hope to sample more in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
October 27, 2022
A masterfully written book about truffles. You'll learn a lot about their smell (eluding words), hunting (hard), trade (shady), geographic distribution (wider than expected), ecology (fascinating), dogs (needing a lot of training), chefs (often clueless), recipes (simple), oil (artificial), and future (science-based farming). The travelog parts will introduce some pretty quirky truffle hunters and their adorable dogs in places ranging from the predictable Piedmont to the surprising North Carolina.
January 12, 2023
A quirky and niche novel seeking to capture the evanescent funghi and all the curious characters in this unusual industry. Part nature-writing, part travel log, part stunt-journalism. *Birthday present from Lachy.
“…the more I learn to appreciate a good smellscape, the more I’ve begun to wonder if dogs sniff the world mostly for the sheer gorgeousness of it, and I’ve started to think of truffles as the street artists of the forest, splashing smells across an airy canvas, blowing the minds of passersby”.
“…the more I learn to appreciate a good smellscape, the more I’ve begun to wonder if dogs sniff the world mostly for the sheer gorgeousness of it, and I’ve started to think of truffles as the street artists of the forest, splashing smells across an airy canvas, blowing the minds of passersby”.
October 23, 2021
Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs
by Rowan Jacobsen
An intriguing book about the origin and uses of truffles. Interesting people who hunt for this delicacy. And finally, Truffle sniffing dogs (who are) amazing, intelligent animals. Fantastic photos included as well as recipes, this book has it all for the food connoisseur. I good read for all.
by Rowan Jacobsen
An intriguing book about the origin and uses of truffles. Interesting people who hunt for this delicacy. And finally, Truffle sniffing dogs (who are) amazing, intelligent animals. Fantastic photos included as well as recipes, this book has it all for the food connoisseur. I good read for all.
April 13, 2022
Fascinating, informative, and entertaining book about truffles and their mystique, from Europe to the US and Canada. On smelling a truffle for the first time: "It was hardly a food scent at all. It was more like catching a glimpse of a satyr prancing across the dining room floor while playing its flute and flashing its hindquarters at you. You think, What the hell was that? And then you think, I have to know."
December 27, 2021
The title is what attracted me to this book and reading it was definitely educational and indeed a bit inspirational. You have to root for a truffle loving chihuahua. Thoroughly enjoyable with good information, like no such thing as true truffle oil. Such a valuable lesson isn’t often found on such fascinating pages.
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