Oregon white truffle

Oregon white truffle (Tuber gibbosum) looks much like the Italian white truffle—but the comparison ends there. To Greg Higgins, this and the Oregon black are the truffles that define the Northwest. The best white ones, he says, are “sweet-spicy, musky, warm, cedary, with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.”

Unfortunately, the cute ones I tasted, which sliced as neatly as butter, smelled more like bouillon cubes with a touch of petroleum. The flavor was nutty and gaseous; the texture smooth and oddly fatty. But given Higgins’s long love affair with T. gibbosum and my one-night stand, I’d follow his lead, especially in light of a recent discovery: T. gibbosum may comprise three distinct varieties, according to descriptions in an unpublished paper by Charles Lefevre, David Pilz, James Trappe, and Randy Molina, scientists working in Corvallis, Oregon. This might explain the incongruities and lead to harvesting of the preferred types.