How to Find Truffles in the Forest

If you're looking for the candy kind of truffles, stop right now - I'm talking about the fungal kind!
Forest truffles are actually a mushroom, but an unusual one; a mushroom that grows under the
ground. That fact makes them especially difficult to find, because you can't see them. Truffles in Italy
and France often fetch hundreds of dollars for a good one - they are a culinary treasure that few can
even truthfully admit to ever tasting. But surprisingly, truffles the near equal to those from Europe are
found right here in the U.S. Would you like to find a few? Stick with me for a few minutes, and I'll let
you in on a few truffle secrets. Remember, truffles are the world's most expensive single food
ingredient - but you can find them for free!
Things You'll Need

All the necessary things a prudent person would take with them for a hike in the woods - if you don't
know, do some research first.
Instructions

1.
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The first secret of finding truffles is that if you try finding them all by yourself, you probably won't be
successful. Finding truffles requires having a few animal friends! OK, so you already knew that they
train dogs to find truffles - and with their acute sense of smell, dogs are especially good at this task.
Hold that thought, and in a minute, I'll tell you how you too can train your own dog to find truffles.
But surprisingly, other animals can be helpful too.

The second secret of truffle hunting is knowing that once you get into the forest and begin looking for
truffles, you'll need the help of that other animal - forest voles, or mice. It seems that voles, squirrels,
and chipmunks love truffles too, and if you look for evidence that they've been looking in a certain
area, that's a good tip off that you'll find truffles there too. Truffles, like other mushrooms, often grow
in clusters quite close to each other - so if you find one, you may find more close by. And voles will
often uproot a ripe truffle, and simply leave it there! Why? Who knows? But most eatable truffles are
too big for a vole to finish - so often, you'll find a nice truffle with a few nibbles gone - Take it!
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The third secret of finding truffles is that like many mushrooms, the truffle has an affinity to certain
forest trees - in other words, if you can find a particular kind of tree, you can probably up your chances
of finding the kind of truffles that grow under that tree. Depending on where you live in the U.S., the
tree/truffle relationship will be different. Here in the Northwest, the trees I look for are young Douglas
firs (BLM plots, Christmas tree farms, etc.) Check the Resource section below, where I've included a
site which discusses the affinity of specific trees and specific truffles (yes, there are many kinds of
truffles - too many!).

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The fourth secret of finding truffles is that they are always found quite close to the surface of the
ground. This is good for the various animals that are looking for them - and it's good for us too! I
mention this because some truffle hunters go into the woods armed with rakes, and indiscriminately
begin to turn over the forest floor until the area looks like a battle scene. Please learn early to never use

this method - it is generally ineffective - almost every truffle you find will be unripe! And it ruins the
forest floor and the delicate mycelium (the vegetative body of all forest mushrooms), growing just
under the surface of the forest floor) for any future mushrooms or truffles. In all honesty, if you use a
rake like a butcher in the woods, you may be killed right there by other trufflers or mushroomers! It's
that serious!
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Now as the fifth secret of finding truffles, let me share with you the absolute best way to probe for
truffles - with your bare hand! Not with any tool of any kind, just your bare hand. Remember, you're
looking for evidence that animals have disturbed the forest floor (small areas of pushed up earth, and
small holes in the duff). When you find such an area, push your hand under the surrounding duff, and
with your fingertips, feel around for a hard, ball shaped object, generally the size of a walnut or a pingpong ball. There may be only one, and maybe the vole has taken a few nibbles out of it - so what!
Maybe there's more than one - just keep feeling around the area. When you are done, try to pull the
cover of duff back into place. Yes, even your hand has done some damage, so try to leave the area as
much like you found it as possible. Please practice responsible truffling.

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So, you've found what you think is a truffle, and you've heard that ripe truffles have a smell - so you
smell it. If it's really ripe and eatable, it should have a rich, earthy, garlicky, pungent smell (some think
the aroma is wonderful, others think it's funky). But you may not smell anything - often, conditions in
the woods are cold and wet during truffle season, and your truffle may need to warm up before it gives
off its smell. Take it home and smell it again - still not much smell? Wrap it in paper towel, and put it
in the fridge for a week or so - often it'll ripen there - however, if it's just too young, it won't get any
riper. But if it soon fills your refrigerator with that beautiful or funky truffle smell - congratulations!
Start looking for some truffle recipes.

If your truffle came from the Northwest woods and has a strong, pungent aroma, it is likely one of the
highly prized ones - it may be a Tuber gibbosum(Jan-Jun) or Tuber oregonense(Oct-Jan), commonly
called an Oregon white truffle. The outside color of these begin as a white, unripe and small truffle - as
it grows, it may take on a more orange tone, eventually turning a brownish tan - it may get as large as
a golf ball. If your smelly truffle is black, larger than a golf ball, and knobby shaped, it's likely a
Leucangium carthusianum(Sep-Feb), or Oregon black truffle. If your truffle has little or no smell, it is
either unripe, or not an eatable variety. Another way to determine if you have a real truffle is to cut it
in half - all of the eatable truffles noted above have solid cores with unique, beautiful marbling
throughout. See http://www.natruffling.org/ noted below under Resources, for both keys to
identification, and pictures of hundreds of truffles - yours will be there.
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Your best use of this first truffle, especially if it has a rich, pungent smell (or even one that is rotten!),
is to use it to train your dog to find more truffles. How? Place the truffle in the toe of an old cotton
sock, along with some other stuffing (some trainers like to use an old 35mm film canister instead). Use
it to play "hide and seek" with your dog - make sure you reinforce letting the dog smell the sock
between each search. Use a command, like "Get the truffle!" each time. Dogs like things that have
pungent smells - your dog should enjoy the search. Remember to reward - food and praise - for each
success, and make the search harder and harder - always using the command, "Get the truffle!"
Eventually, you can move the game outside, where you can bury the sock in the ground or under pine
needles. Keep the sock in the fridge - eventually it will get VERY ripe, but your dog will love it! Once
your dog gets good at this game, take him/her out to the woods for the real thing. A good truffle dog is
the answer to consistently finding plenty of ripe, eatable truffles - a great investment!

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Truffles are difficult to find and very expensive as a result! In 1994, black truffles sold for $350 to
$500 a pound. In the United States, edible truffles are collected in the forests of Oregon and
Washington. In Europe, most truffles are collected in France and Italy.
Truffle hunters in Italy and France use pigs and mixed-breed dogs to sniff out truffles. Dogs are
preferred to pigs because pigs love to eat truffles. Notice the staff held by the truffle hunter in the
picture with the pig. The hunter uses the staff to force the pig to back off, once the pig has located a
truffle.
In Italy, truffle dogs are trained in several steps. First, the dog is taught to retrieve a rubber ball. Next,
a small bit of smelly Gorgonzola cheese is substituted for the rubber ball. After the dog has learned to
retrieve the cheese, the cheese is hidden, forcing the dog to sniff it out for a reward of food. Finally, a
small truffle is substituted for the cheese. The dog is trained to fetch, then dig up the truffle.
Dogs like other food better than truffles, so bread and other treats are used for rewards. The night
before a truffle hunt the dog is not fed so it will be eager to find truffles for the treat. Some dogs take
the easy way out. They find and eat garbage buried by campers! Dogs generally do not find young
truffles because the odor is too weak. The odor becomes stronger with age as the spores mature.
The value of commercial truffles means that there are laws controlling their collection. In Italy, for
example, truffle collectors are tested and licensed. There, organizations of land owners called
cooperatives control truffle hunting on their property. Unless you are a member of the cooperative,
you can be arrested for collecting truffles from cooperative truffle beds.
In North America, truffle collectors use three
major clues to find truffles. First, it must be
warm and the soil moist. Truffles are often found
10 to 14 days after a heavy rain. The umbrella
shaped mushrooms which pop up after a good
rain can be used as a kind of clock. Look for
truffles after these mushrooms have started to collapse.
Second, the right trees must be present. Truffles are formed by fungi that are
partners (ectomycorrhizal) with certain trees. You will not find truffles under maples, for instance,
because maples do not form ectomycorrhizae. Trees to use as clues include: pines, firs, Douglas-fir,
oaks, hazel nuts, hickories, birches, beeches, and eucalyptus.
Third, truffles use animals for spore dispersal. In North America, squirrels and chipmunks are the
major wild animals dispersing truffle spores. Search among the right trees for pits dug by rodents in
their own hunt for truffles. Pits do not guarantee success, however! Rodents also dig pits searching for
acorns, onion bulbs, and beetle grubs.
The best success results from raking around fresh pits. Look for pits not filled with leaves or other
debris. I use a four-tine garden cultivator with the handle shortened to 30 inches to rake leaves off the
surface and dig into the soil 3 or 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) . A good eye is required as many truffles are
small and colored red, brown, white, or even black.
Bring a supply of small paper bags for taking your truffles home. Write your collection notes on the
bag before putting the truffles inside it. Information on fresh appearance and habitat is often needed to
identify fungi. Note the color and shape of the truffle, and what kind of trees are close by. The date
and precise location are also useful information. These data can help you understand when and where
to look next year.

Do not put truffles in sealed plastic bags. If you do they will mold, get slimy, and smell bad! NEVER
EAT ANY TRUFFLE, OR OTHER FUNGUS, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY AN
EXPERT! You might confuse the button stage of a poisonous mushroom with a truffle, or be allergic.
Hunting truffles is like hunting buried treasure. Good luck!