Whenever he feels a little sorry for himself, he thinks back to 10 years ago, when he wasn't so popular, when celebrity chefs such as Emeril Lagasse weren't calling to place an order and invite him to dinner, a time when David Letterman wasn't arranging for him to appear on the Late Show, a time when he wasn't being invited to lavish seven-course gourmet meals accompanied by some of the world's most precious wines, at no cost to himself. At first glance, this pricey member of the mushroom family appears like nothing more than a clod of rich, black soil. But take a sniff or shave a thin slice from a black perigord truffle and your impression is likely to change. It can seem overpowering to some and not to others. Chefs prize truffles for their unique smell and flavor, which can transform the simplest dish into something utterly sublime.
Black truffles grow underground near the roots of a host tree, most commonly a walnut or oak.
Black truffles are usually harvested during the winter, when the truffles are found by trained dogs or pigs that help truffle farmers sniff them out. Though different varieties of truffles can grow wild, most truffles today are cultivated, which takes us back to Franklin Garland. The bumpy drive down a long gravel road to Garland Truffles on the outskirts of Hillsborough may not convince you that this 55-acre Piedmont farm is the commercial center of truffle production in America. But if you listen to Franklin Garland, that is about to change. Garland first became smitten with truffles after reading a newspaper article in 1977.