“Fungi are everywhere but they are easy to miss. They are inside you and around you. They sustain you and all that you depend on. As you read these words, fungi are changing the way that life happens, as they have done for more than a billion years. They are eating rock, making soil, digesting pollutants, nourishing and killing plants, surviving in space, inducing visions, producing food, making medicines, manipulating animal behaviour and influencing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. Yet they live their lives largely hidden from view, and more than 90 per cent of their species remain undocumented. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. “Fungi” make up one of life’s kingdoms – as broad and busy a category as ‘animals’ or ‘plants’. Microscopic yeasts are fungi, as are the sprawling networks of honey fungi, or Armillaria, which are among the largest organisms in the world. The current record holder, in Oregon, weighs hundreds of tonnes, spills across 10 square kilometres, and is somewhere between 2,000 and 8,000 years old. There are probably many larger, older specimens that remain undiscovered.

Many of the most dramatic events on Earth have been – and continue to be – a result of fungal activity. Plants only made it out of the water around 500 million years ago because of their collaboration with fungi, which served as their root systems for tens of million years until plants could evolve their own. Today, over 90 per cent of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi from the Greek words for fungus (“mykes”) and root (“rhiza”) which can link trees in shared networks sometimes referred to as the ‘Wood Wide Web’.

To this day, new ecosystems on land are founded by fungi. When volcanic islands are made or glaciers retreat to reveal bare rock, lichens (pronounced LY-kens) – a union of fungi and algae or bacteria – are the first organisms to establish themselves, and to make the soil in which plants subsequently take root. In well-developed ecosystems soil would be rapidly sluiced off by rain were it not for the dense mesh of fungal tissue that holds it together. From deep sediments on the sea floor, to the surface of deserts, to frozen valleys in Antarctica, to our guts and orifices, there are few pockets of the globe where fungi can’t be found. Tens to hundreds of species can exist in the leaves and stems of a single plant. These fungi weave themselves through the gaps between plant cells in an intimate brocade and help to defend plants against disease. No plant grown under natural conditions has been found without these fungi; they are as much a part of planthood as leaves or roots.3 The ability of fungi to prosper in such a variety of habitats depends on their diverse metabolic abilities. Metabolism is the art of chemical transformation. Fungi are metabolic wizards and can explore, scavenge and salvage ingeniously, their abilities rivalled only by bacteria. Using cocktails of potent enzymes and acids, fungi can break down some of the most stubborn sub- stances on the planet, from lignin, wood’s toughest component, to rock, crude oil, polyurethane plastics and the explosive TNT. Few environments are too extreme. A species isolated from mining waste is one of the most radiation-resistant organisms ever discovered, and may help to clean up nuclear waste sites. The blasted nuclear reactor at Chernobyl is home to a large population of such fungi. A number of these radio-tolerant species even grow towards radioactive ‘hot’ particles, and appear to be able to harness radiation as a source of energy, as plants use the energy in sunlight.

Mushrooms dominate the popular fungal imagination, but just as the fruits of plants are one part of a much larger structure that includes branches and roots, so mushrooms are only the fruiting bodies of fungi, the place where spores are produced. Fungi use spores like plants use seeds: to disperse themselves. Mushrooms are a fungus’s way to entreat the more-than-fun- gal world, from wind to squirrel, to assist with the dispersal of spores, or prevent it from interfering with this process. They are the parts of fungi made visible, pungent, covetable, delicious, poisonous. However, mushrooms are only one approach among many: the overwhelming majority of fungal species release spores without producing mushrooms at all. We all live and breathe fungi, thanks to the prolific abilities of fungal fruiting bodies to disperse spores. Some species discharge spores explosively, which accelerate 10,000 times faster than a Space Shuttle directly after launch, reaching speeds of up to a hundred kilometres per hour – some of the quickest movements achieved by any living organism. Other species of fungi create their own microclimates: spores are carried upwards by a current of wind generated by mush- rooms as water evaporates from their gills. Fungi produce around fifty megatonnes of spores each year – equivalent to the weight of 500,000 blue whales – making them the largest source of living particles in the air. Spores are found in clouds and influence the weather by triggering the formation of the water droplets that form rain, and ice crystals that form snow, sleet and hail.

Some fungi, like the yeasts that ferment sugar into alcohol and cause bread to rise, consist of single cells that multiply by budding into two. However, most fungi form networks of many cells known as hyphae (pronounced HY-fee): fine tubular structures that branch, fuse and tangle into Mycelium.

Mycelium describes the most common of fungal habits, better thought of not as a thing, but as a process – an exploratory, irregular tendency. Water and nutrients flow through ecosystems within mycelial networks. The mycelium of some fungal species is electrically excitable and conducts waves of electrical activity along hyphae, analogous to the electrical impulses in animal nerve cells. Mycelium Hyphae make mycelium, but they also make more specialised structures. Fruiting bodies, such as mushrooms, arise from the felting together of hyphal strands. The best estimate suggests that there are between 2.2 and 3.8 million species of fungi in the world – six to ten times the estimated number of plant species – meaning that a mere 6 per cent of all fungal species have been described. We are only just beginning to understand the intricacies and sophistications of fungal lives.”

Entangled Life – Merlin Sheldrake

TRUFFLES

Truffles are spore-producing organs, similar to the seed-producing fruit of a plant. Spores evolved to allow fungi to disperse themselves, but underground their spores can’t be caught by the wind, and are invisible to the eyes of animals. Their solution is to smell. Forests are filled with smells, each a potential distraction to animals. Truffles must be pungent enough for their scent to penetrate the layers of soil and enter the air, distinctive enough for an animal to pay attention, and delicious enough for that animal to seek it out, dig it up and eat it. Every visual disadvantage that truffles face – being entombed in the soil, difficult to spot once unearthed, and visually unappealing once spotted they make up for with smell.

Once eaten, a truffle’s job is done: an animal has been lured into exploring the soil and recruited to carry the fungus’s spores off to a new place and deposit them in its faeces. A truffle’s allure is thus the outcome of hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary entanglement with animal tastes. Natural selection will favour truffle fungi that match the preferences of their finest animal spore dispersers. .

Truffles had evolved to communicate to animals their readiness to be eaten. Humans and dogs had developed ways to communicate with one another about truffles’ chemical propositions. A truffle’s aroma is a complex trait, and seems to emerge out of the relationships the truffle maintains with its community of microbes, and the soil and climate it lives within – its terroir.

Truffle fruiting bodies house thriving communities of bacteria and yeasts between a million and a billion bacteria per gram of dry weight. Many members of truffles’ microbiomes are able to produce the distinctive volatile compounds that contribute to truffles’ aromas, and it is likely that the cocktail – of chemicals that reaches your nose is the work of more than a single organism. The smell of a truffle is made up of a flock of different molecules drifting in formation more than a hundred in white truffles, and around fifty in the other most popular species. These elaborate bouquets are energetically costly and are unlikely to have evolved unless they served some purpose. What’s more, animal tastes are diverse. Certainly, not all truffle species are attractive to humans and some are even mildly poisonous. Of the thousand-odd species of truffle in North America, only a handful are of culinary interest.

Truffles’ aromas are made in an active process by living, metabolising cells. A truffle’s odour increases as its spores develop, and its aroma ceases when its cells die. You can’t dry a truffle and expect to taste it later, as you can with some types of mushroom. They are chemically loquacious, vociferous even. Stop the metabolism, and you stop the smell. For this reason, in many restaurants, fresh truffles are grated onto your food before your eyes. Few other organisms are so good at persuading humans to disperse them with such urgency.

Allure underpins many types of fungal sex, including that of truffle fungi. Truffles themselves are the outcome of a sexual encounter: for a truffle fungus like Tuber melanosporum to fruit, the hyphae of one mycelial network must fuse with those of a separate, sexually compatible network, and pool genetic material. For most of their lives, as mycelial networks, truffle fungi live as separate mating types, whether ‘-‘ or ‘+’ – by fungal standards, their sexual lives are straightforward. Sex happens when a ‘hypha attracts and fuses with a ‘+’ hypha. One partner plays a paternal role, providing genetic material only. The other plays a maternal role, providing genetic material and growing the flesh that matures into truffles and spores. Truffles differ from humans in that either ‘+’ or ‘-‘ mating types can be maternal or paternal – it is as if all humans were both male and female and equally able to play the part of a mother or a father, provided we could have sex with a partner of the opposite mating type. How the sexual attraction between truffle fungi plays out remains unknown. Closely related fungi use pheromones to attract mates, and researchers have a strong suspicion that truffles, too, use a sex pheromone for this purpose.

Without homing, there could be no mycelium. Without mycelium, there could be no attraction between ‘-‘ and ‘+’ mating Without sexual attraction there could be no sex. And without sex, there could be no truffle.

However, the relationships between truffle fungi and their partner trees are just as important, and their chemical interactions must be intricately managed. The hyphae of young truffle fungi will soon die unless they find a plant to partner with. Plants must admit into their roots the fungal species that will form a mutually beneficial relationship, as opposed to the many that will cause disease. Both fungal hyphae and plant roots face the challenge of finding one another amid the chemical babble in the soil where countless other roots, fungi and microbes course and engage. It is another case of attraction and allure, of chemical call and response.

Both plant and fungus use volatile chemicals to make themselves attractive to one another, just as truffles make themselves attractive to animals in a forest. Receptive plant roots produce plumes of volatile compounds that drift through the soil and cause spores to sprout and hyphae to branch and grow faster. Fungi produce plant growth hormones that manipulate roots, causing them to proliferate into masses of feathery branches with a greater surface area, the chances of an encounter between root tips and fungal hyphae become more likely.

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What is the best way to serve fresh truffles on a dish? To help answer that question directly, we have put together a quick guide to offer a few suggestions on how to best serve your fresh truffles.

TLDR

• Shaving truffles on dishes adds visual appeal and promotes a balanced flavor in each bite.
• Grating truffles on dishes exposes more surface area, and fibres of the fresh truffle to the dish and to the air; releasing more of the aroma from the fresh truffle into a dish.
• We encourage you to use both techniques to get the maximum yield from each fresh truffle.

Shaving Fresh Truffles

Shaved truffles on top of a dish can be visually very impressive. The look or aesthetic appearance of truffles can immediately trigger a mouth-watering reaction. The beautiful marbling of the fresh truffle can be almost hypnotic with its complex array of interwoven patterns, alongside the beauty of a well plated dish.

Another benefit of shaving truffles over a dish is it helps to create balanced flavor in every bite, especially when combined with bite-sized foods, like ravioli or bites of vegetables, fish, or meat. In this case, a single truffle shaving can be placed on top of each individual bite on the plate to curate the exact flavor the chef wants the guest to enjoy. 

One additional perk of shaving fresh truffles over a warm dish is the larger surface area of the truffle slices absorb some of the heat and steam of the dish underneath and vaporise the aroma. This creates even more drama to the dish as the perfume of fresh truffles can gently waft around guests.

You can buy a professional truffle shaver here. Otherwise you can use a mandolin.

Grating Fresh Truffles

While shaving delicate thin slices of truffles can be visually alluring, grating fresh truffles can offer other benefits. By grating truffles into a dish, you increase the surface area and internal fibres of the truffle that are exposed to the air, as well as breaking down and releasing more of the truffle protein. This can increase the impact of the flavours and aroma the fresh truffles impart on the dish. 

This method is particularly helpful when the goal is for the truffles to impart their flavour and aroma within the dish, rather than as a seperate flavour element. Many chefs use this technique to great effect when making truffle pasta, risotto, or truffle sauces.

Use a microplane, zester, or fine grater to most successfully grate fresh truffles.

Why Not Do Both?

One of our favorite hacks is to start by grating a truffle using a microplane, fine grater or zester, then switching to a truffle slicer to shave perfectly formed truffle slices onto the dish. Because fresh truffles are typically round or have some bulbous shapes, grating lets you use the tougher-to-shave outer portions of the truffle to maximize flavor and aroma in the dish, then shave perfectly shaped slices to create maximum visual appeal onto a dish. 

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The Truffle Company Founder, Russ Williams was recently interviewed on TalkTV by Kevin O’Sullivan about the wonderful world of Truffles. Take a look in the player below. Remember, you can always contact The Truffle Company with any questions you have about Truffles.

You can always watch the full show on TalkTV’s catch up service here.

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Caviar is synonymous with celebration. The best way to serve caviar at a party is to pair it with alcohol. Two beverages in particular are timeless pairings – Champagne and Vodka.

Pairing Vodka with caviar is a Russian tradition. In the food world this pairing is considered standard. A high quality vodka served straight and chilled is perfect. Citrus also compliments the saltiness of caviar, so you may consider adding a lemon wedge to the drink.

So, what about Champagne? Nothing fits the ocean saltiness of caviar better than a crisp, minerally, glass of Champagne. Serve a brut champagne in an elegant flute, having first made sure the champagne was chilled over ice.

These two are classics, but if you want to have a beer, then consider a porter or amber ale. For wine, we suggest opting for a dry white.

Try our incredible range of Caviar here.

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It is quite difficult to convey the taste of caviar.

Each small bite has approximately 15 flavour experiences. No single container of fish eggs is precisely the same. Each spoonful tastes like a gorgeous representation of those wonderful things that remind us of the ocean. Some say eating caviar tastes like salt and fresh fish. Others say it is nutty, richer than oysters with a unique bouquet. However you describe it, each morsel is a complex burst of flavour, and should be savoured.

So what are the best food pairings to go with Caviar?

A traditional way to serve caviar would be on top of a blini with a dollop of crème fraiche, sour cream or simple unsalted butter.

Traditional accompaniments range from chives, lemon wedges, hard boiled eggs, to quail eggs, to green onions, but the possibilities are endless.

Caviar pairs seamlessly with almost any buttery food that can use a touch of brine in flavor. Ingredients like pasta, polenta and potatoes work particularly well.

Of course, you can also use caviar to garnish more adventurous dishes. Simon Hulstone serves his with a Scallop and prawn roulade with a cauliflower purée, while Marcus Wareing puts together a very luxurious starter of Burrata, pea, grapefruit, caviar and leek salad. Many of chef Hideki Hiwatashi’s recipes use caviar as a garnish on top of sushi or other raw fish dishes, while Kevin Mangeolles pairs it with vegetables and dairy in his Organic carrots cooked in goat’s whey with caviar, watercress and goat’s curd.

We suggest serving your caviar using a mother of pearl spoon to ensure an ideal flavor. Using a metal spoon to serve caviar may result in an unsavory, metallic flavor due to oxidation.

You should keep your caviar over ice when serving, we recommend investing in a caviar server to do so. Or simply serve at very cold temperatures (chilled, but not frozen). The caviar should be placed in a non-metal bowl, which can then be placed on top of crushed ice.

Take a look at our range of exquisite Caviar here.

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How did eating Caviar start? The British kings of the middle ages reserved all the sturgeon fish meat for their own consumption and Edward II knighted it the “Royal Fish”, set aside solely for royalty.

However, it was the Persians who first prepared and savored sturgeon roe. The word “caviar” actually comes from the Persian word “khav-yar” which means “cake of strength” or “cake of power”. This was because the people of Persia attributed many medicinal powers to caviar.

The Persians collected the fish eggs on the Kura River, however, the tradition of salting fish roe for consumption actually originated in China, where carp eggs were historically prepared in this way.

How did eating Caviar start? The first known record of caviar dates back to the Greek scholar Aristotle. In the 4th Century B.C. Aristotle described this delicacy as “the eggs of the sturgeon, heralded into banquets amongst trumpets and flowers”.

However, it was Russia and the Russian Tsars that catapulted caviar into the world of luxury. The golden roe of the Sterlet sturgeon – now over fished to the point of near extinction- produced what would become the “imperial” caviar, the most delicate and coveted type of caviar available. As time progressed, gourmet caviar spread to all countries across Europe, and was prized by nearly every culture.

Take a look at our range of incredible Caviar here

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When you buy a fresh truffle, you expect it to be fresh, ripe, and free from significant blemishes. The quality of our fresh truffles is vitally important to us, and so there are a number of things we do in preparing fresh truffles, to ensure only the best truffle reaches you when you receive your order.

Squeaky clean

Firstly, we clean the truffle. This is done with a firm brush, and sometimes a very small amount of water, to ensure that all the mud is removed from your truffle. We also brush to remove any truffle debris particles from in between the gnarly, pyramidal protrusions. If crumbs are left here, they will cling to moisture, making the truffle skin more moist, and making it perish more quickly.

How do I smell?

Secondly, we smell and squeeze the truffle. 99% of a truffle unique characteristic is it’s aroma – after all, we eat just as much with our noses as our mouths. We check on the intensity of the aroma, ensuring it is representative of the ripeness quality we’d expect at that point in the season. Smelling the truffles can also provide tell-tale signs if there happens to be any invisible pest damage to the truffle, or if it has not matured properly. Truffles should be firm (Winter Truffles have a little give if ripe), so squeezing the truffle informs us of how ripe it is, or it is over-ripe and should be discarded. It is important to know that whilst White Truffles should be eaten as quickly as possible from harvest; Black Truffles aroma actually peaks 4 to 6 days after harvest.

Only the good stuff

Thirdly, we may inflict a “farmers cut” (a small cut to inspect the interior of the Truffle) or remove any areas of natural damage – most often caused by underground creatures, and sometimes doggy paws. We use a pairing knife to carefully remove only any damaged or affected areas. This results in a truffle that may have a small “nick” or even a slice removed. This prevents the damage from spreading. It also means that your order should only contain lovely Truffle that can be consumed, not made up of damaged truffle that you cannot use. And when you buy truffles, you (and we) want to enjoy every single gram.

Take a look at our post on Caring for Fresh Truffles to learn how to look after them once they arrive.

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A Bit About Me & The Truffle Company

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