The Perigord truffle is prized for its rarity and ability to enhance other foods. Garland became interested in truffles about 20 years ago after reading about French attempts to cultivate them. Most are sold to local restaurants and gourmet shops. Garland sometimes saves his best truffles for himself, freezing those he can't use in their month-long shelf life. Oh God, they're very aromatic to the nose, and full taste, throughout the whole palate,'' said Walter Royal, executive chef at the Angus Barn in Raleigh.
Royal buys about five pounds of truffles each year from Garland.
Everybody who comes in and tries them finds it hard to believe that they're from right here, just down the road,'' he said. While still cultivating truffles, the Garlands now focus on selling truffle-producing trees. But Rosario Safina, who works for the largest truffle producer in the world, said small-time farmers needn' t bother. You either plant a lot in the beginning, or you don't,'' he said in a telephone interview from New York. Carver said European truffle production has dropped from about 1,000 tons annually 100 years ago to 10 to 60 tons a year today.