By then, I had about given up. Now, he and his wife harvest about 50 pounds of truffles each year with the help of their truffle-sniffing dog, Chewy. 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 monthlong shelf life. Even encrusted with ice crystals, his truffles emanate a sweet, earthy aroma.
Royal buys about five pounds of truffles each year from Garland.
They go into risotto, potato cakes with Russian caviar, and stuffed chicken. While still cultivating truffles, the Garlands now focus on selling truffle-producing trees. Edmond Badham of Morrisville, an investor with a Ph.D. in botany, bought about 90, but doesn't recommend that tobacco growers sell the farm just yet. But Rosario Safina, who works for the largest truffle producer in the world, said small-time farmers needn't bother. Safina is president of Urbani Truffles USA, a unit of Urbani SNC of Scheggiano, Italy.