Edible Blue Ridge Winter 2022

FROM THE LAND

Buried Treasure: Uncovering Virginia’s Newest Cash Crop WORDS & PHOTOS LISA ARCHER

When someone says the word “orchard,” visions of trees laden with ap ples, pears or peaches invariably come to mind. Perhaps you think of cherries or plums, or maybe a more esoteric fruit such as persimmon or quince. But tucked away on a gently sloping 6-acre parcel in Rixeyville, you won’t see any trees heavy with fruit; instead, Virginia’s latest cash crop is hidden in the soil. “We’ve had people come down from New York, we’ve had people come up from Florida. Last season we filled up so fast, we had a waitlist of 90 people,” Olivia Taylor, co-owner of Virginia Truffles LLC, a truffle orchard, tells me on a warm fall day. If you didn’t know truffles could be found in Virginia, you aren’t alone. Commercial truffle production is still in its infancy in many parts of the country (in 2007, Tennessee was the first state to successfully cul tivate truffles) and there are only a handful of producers in Virginia. Of those local producers, only two or three are at the stage where they can sell at a commercial level. However, truffle cultivation is gaining a steady following, enough that there is now an annual Virginia Truffle Festival and truffle hunts draw visitors from across the country. Virginia Truffles LLC is currently the largest producer of truffles in Virginia and a champion for growers across the U.S. It all started when Taylor’s parents, Pat and John Martin, were searching for a retirement venture. They became enthralled with truffle cultivation and consulted with experts in Australia and Europe. Their original business model was a truffle nursery, selling tree seedlings inoculated with the Pèrig ord truffle fungus, Tuber melanosporum , often referred to as the “black diamond” of truffles both for its value and flavor. At the same time they

started the nursery, the Martins also planted a one-acre plot with inocu lated oak trees as a proof of concept plan. “From the get-go that was the variety because there has been a lot of success with cultivation. Truffles are a fickle species as far as there are some species that are easier to cultivate,” says Taylor. “We’d love to do the Italian white truffle but there’s been no luck with the exception of a couple farms in France that have ever had any success cultivating them.” Taylor and her parents were looking to source to mid-Atlantic grow ers, particularly those in North Carolina and Virginia. “There are a lot of farmers — particularly in North Carolina — that were originally to bacco farmers and because tobacco is sort of, you know, passé at this point … they were looking for alternative crops,” says Taylor. So, what is a truffle and why are truffle orchards on the rise? A truf fle, in short, is the fruiting body of a fungus. The truffle fungus grows beneath the earth, forming a symbiotic relationship with a tree (the spe cies of tree varies from oaks, to hazelnuts, to pines, depending on species of truffle); the fungus lives on the roots of the tree, taking up nutrients for it and, in turn, the tree feeds the fungus sugars produced through photosynthesis. Much like there are different types of mushrooms, there are different types of truffle, all with their own unique umami flavor. Traditionally as sociated with Michelin-starred restaurants, truffles are found on tasting menus fromDecember through March (the typical truffle season), often shaved over decadent dishes such as risotto, duck, or even ice cream. But in recent years, truffle-infused ingredients have made their way to com modity items as well, such as popcorn, potato chips and cheese.

20 | edible blue ridge WINTER 2022