Truffle Trail Brings Elusive Oregon Truffle to Willamette Valley Tables

Javier Santos, co-owner of SubTerra Kitchen and Cellar in Newberg, brings out a serving of what looks like vanilla ice cream topped with tiny brown chocolate shavings — at first glance.

But it takes about 12 inches of distance from nose to bowl to know that the shavings are not the classically sweet chocolate-vanilla combination — rather, you’re greeted with earthy, rich, almost garlic-like sweetness from an Oregon Black Truffle, one of the delicacies celebrated from February through early March during the Taste Newberg Truffle Trail 2024.

“People are scared away by this one the most,” Santos said about the truffle-topped ice cream. “Some people are scared at first and then try it and really like it. Others won’t try it at all, which is okay. I’m just glad people are learning about what a truffle can be.” 

Santos and 17 other businesses around the Newberg-Dundee area are pushing the palates of the area by creating innovative or classic truffle dishes for the Truffle Trail, a month-long celebration of the truffle season during harvest, from January to March, culminating in the Taste of Truffle event at the Chehalem Cultural Center on March 9, 2024.

“Truffles in the Chehalem Mountains and other surrounding areas are nothing new,” Santos said. “It’s something foragers have been harvesting for years. With little else going on in the early months of the year, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to highlight yet another bounty of the Willamette Valley.”

Brief History of the Oregon Truffle

Truffles are, at their core, underground mushrooms in the fungi kingdom. They are the spore-producing fruiting bodies of a larger underground mycorrhizal network, prized for their strong, earthy, sweet aroma and flavor.

According to Oregon State University (OSU), there are hundreds of native wild truffle species in Oregon, but only four are considered gourmet: the Oregon Winter White Truffle, the Oregon Spring White Truffle (commonly known as Oregon White Truffles), the Oregon Black Truffle, and the Oregon Brown Truffle.

Editor’s Note: While there are no known poisonous truffles (according to OSU), foragers should never eat a wild truffle or mushroom unless it has been identified with absolute confidence. When in doubt, do not eat anything until you get an experienced forager’s positive identification.

Oregon Winter White truffles are harvested from October through February, whereas Oregon Spring White are harvested from January through June. Oregon Black and Brown Truffles are harvested from September through February. They’re found all along the West Coast, from British Columbia to Northern California.

“Each truffle has its flavor and aroma profile,” the report stated, “and even among the same species, subtle nuances in flavor are attributed to climate, soil, and host species.”

They’re one of the most expensive products in the food industry due to the difficulty of harvesting, as well as the general rarity and limited cultivation ability (although European truffles have been successfully cultivated).

But, just like the wine industry, Oregon sits on the same parallel as some of the richest truffle areas in the world (namely, Italy and France), making it and its damp, mossy forests a perfect place to find truffles.

“Because these are in our backyards, we’re able to price our (Truffle Trail) menu very reasonably,” Santos said, whose four-course truffle menu runs $85 per person, which includes a truffle-infused cocktail. “Some people might see the opportunity to hike prices just because it’s a truffle dish, but we want to share our bounty with everybody who wants to try it.”

Truffle Hunting in the Willamette Valley

Truffles are found at the base of Douglas Fir trees (the most common tree in Oregon). The best way to find a truffle is with a “truffle dog” — a dog trained on the aroma of a truffle that can identify locations of truffles without foragers needing to dig around every tree base they have on their property; a time-intensive and potentially destructive process that could result in more harm than good.

“Oregon truffle hunting has been around for a long time,” said Stefan Czarnecki, owner of Black Tie Tours who is leading truffle hunting tours during the season. “But, the practices haven’t been great. Only recently did people start taking it more seriously.”

Czarnecki knows a thing or two about truffles. Originally from Pennsylvania, his grandparents’ restaurant, Joe’s Tavern (eventually, Joe’s Restaurant) in Reading, Penn., was an acclaimed culinary landmark known for its use of mushrooms and truffles. Stefan’s father, Jack, took the reins of the restaurant and eventually published a few mushroom-based cookbooks, “Joe’s Book of Mushroom Cookery” and the 1996 James Beard award-winning cookbook, “A Cookbook of Mushrooms: With 100 Recipes for Common and Uncommon Varieties.”

In 1996, the family sold the restaurant and moved out west after purchasing the Joel Palmer House in Dayton, Ore., where Stefan’s brother, Christopher, is still the chef. Then, the family founded the Oregon White Truffle Oil company, “the first all-natural truffle oil ever produced in the United States,” according to their website.

“We moved out here for a lot of reasons, but mushroom and truffle foraging was no question one of them,” Czarnecki said.

Czarnecki said he’s been truffle hunting with his family for a significant portion of his life and now leads truffle hunting tours into truffle country for people who want to experience pulling truffles out of the land with his trusty truffle dogs, Ella and Ash.

“Ash is still training,” he said. “He’s got a lot of puppy energy, but we’re working on it.”

Editor’s note: see puppy energy here.

After a harvest, Czarnecki and his tour guests visit winery locations around the area for a truffle-filled lunch with the truffles that were pulled out of the ground.

“Truffles are about subtlety and complexity,” Czarnecki said. “When a lot of people think about truffles and the huge flavor bomb, they’re generally tasting a lab-made product that is designed to be a huge flavor and aroma punch. But real truffles have these gases that hit your olfactory system, that act as a flavor enhancer across the taste spectrum. They’re not supposed to take over the whole dish.”

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Ode de Truffle, about the culinary and unique ways Newbergians are utilizing the Oregon Truffle.