Getting the flavor of...Oregon’s truffle country

Every year during the last week of January, gourmands descend on Eugene for the Oregon Truffle Festival.

Oregon’s truffle country

We’re standing in a cold, dense forest with our dogs, each of us hunting the elusive Oregon truffle, said Ted Katauskas in Sunset. Every year during the last week of January, gourmands descend on Eugene for the Oregon Truffle Festival—“three days of unrestrained fungal madness”—to celebrate harvest time in an area now recognized as one of the world’s best truffle regions. There’ll be time enough later for the seminars, wine tastings, and truffle-centric meals. On this chilly Saturday morning, foraging is the mission. “The air is heavy with the scent of pine” as the dogs get to work. The poodles and the Chihuahua in our cohort prove of little use, but the Lagotto Romagnolos take the lead, following some “programmed instinct” as they begin sniffing in circles until they locate a fir tree worth digging under. Soon enough they come up with their prizes—“mud-caked balls of earth” that are worth up to $400 a pound.

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