Oregon Truffles

I posted a month or so ago about improvements in the quality of Oregon black truffles, and today I discovered that the white ones have gotten better too. Oregon truffles used to smell mostly like nothing at all. Truffle hunters pulled them from the ground before they were ripe, and they never ripened. The truffle hunters are getting better, and with your nose as your guide, it’s now possible to score truffles that are ripe and delicious at a fraction of the price of their European counterparts.

My local upscale grocery store, New Seasons, had little jars of whites and blacks today marked $20ish an ounce. The black truffles were strongly earthy, but the white truffles were intensely pungent and garlicky. I picked two good-sized white ones that clocked in at half an ounce combined. With a little plugra, fleur de sel, and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano atop tagliatelle, this was a whole lot of truffle flavor for only $9. By FAR our best Oregon truffle experience to date, and even my truffle-loving husband never reached for supplementary truffle salt.

Note to Cheryl: those veins kinda sorta do look like cod worms, but if cod worms taste like truffles, bring them on!



Melissa…looks good…we had some Oregon whites over NYE that were very good also. Oregon truffles can be good…but nothing beats Italy.