Dasyurus Maculatus
March 8th, 2005, 08:18 AM
Its the truffle-hunting season here in the desert. Desert truffles or Fugha are a highly prized seasonal delicacy that the locals go crazy over.
After you have come upon your truffles, by a long day's scrabbling in the sand or by a timely trip to the market, what do you do with them: First, keep in mind that desert truffles should never be cooked too much-no more than a few minutes. Roasting them in campfire ashes remains one cooking method, and the Kuwaitis like to boil them in camel's milk or roast them in melted butter. Lacking a campfire or a camel, however, western gourmets prefer to boil them in cow's milk . I prefer to gently fry them in butter..
Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, referred to truffles in 500 BC as "a natural phenomenon of great complexity, one of the strangest plants, without root, stem, fiber, branch, bud, leaf, or flower." Truffles grow completely out of sight, below the surface of the soil, and no one can predict exactly where they will grow, or when. All of them grow wild: No one has ever managed to grow them under cultivation.
And the treasured desert truffle of the Middle East, it is widely believed, is spawned by lightning and a clap of thunder. But don't let this put you off. If a basket of desert truffles should come your way, you should know that they make delicious eating. Wrinkled and gnarled when dug up, and slightly perfumed, they look for all the world like bruised, lobed potatoes, wizened walnuts or dried prunes. Their appearance is of course deceptive-part of the mystique.
Brown, black, creamy white, sometimes pink, there are more than two dozen varieties - if you can only find them.
Desert truffles lie in wait in arid areas all around the Mediterranean, especially along the North African coast from Morocco to Egypt and farther east across the great desert plain from Derrazour to Dammam , from Baghdad to Dubai . In all this vast region of the earth, you will find few, if any, surface signs to show you where the truffles are hiding-yet in all these regions, people gather truffles for food.
Truffles go by different names in different places. In Morocco they are called terfez-probably the source of the Latin botanical name. In Egypt the Bedouin of the Western Desert call them terfas. The Iraqis Kuwaitis and Saudis call them fagga, or zubaydi. In the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where they are found is mainly south of AlKhafji near the Turkish Fort of Nayariyah and Safaniyah 35 km north of Jubail.
Usually no more than a few centimeters across, but occasionally the size of a fist, desert truffles are light in weight typically weighing from 30 to 300 grams . A Bedouin truffle-gatherer has stated "The number and size of the truffles are influenced by the force of thunderclaps." indicating the connection between the short and unpredictable wet season of desert rains in October and November to start the truffles germinating. Too much rain at the wrong time can rot the truffle spores. Then the weather must remain dry during January, followed by a light shower or two in the spring to bring on the truffles in February and March. Altogether, researchers have found, as little as 200 to 250 millimeters of rain (8-10") can produce a good crop, and when there is less, experienced truffle-gatherers know to look preferentially in hollows and other places that may dry out more slowly.
They also know to look for certain plants that have a symbitic relationship with the desert truffle such as shrub like Helianthemum species. Desert truffles are often found nearby. Fungal filaments of the truffle penetrate the roots of the other plant-sometimes reaching as far as 40 centimeters to obtain nourishment and researchers speculate, the truffle produces a substance that inhibits competing plants.
Provided all the circumstances are right, the truffles are ready to be plucked from the sand-if you know where to look. And if the truffles themselves are shyly hidden, the truffle-gatherers of Egypt's Western Desert and Shias of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province are downright secretive. Information on where truffles might be found is kept in the dark.
But you might get a few hints, along the lines of "Where the desert rag-rug flower grows," or instructions that the best times of day to go in search of truffles are at the bewitching hours of sunrise or sunset, when any slight rise in the sand casts a shadow that indicates a truffle might be hiding nearly a hand's breadth below. Perhaps it is best left to those who know the trade well, for you can get desert truffles at many markets throughout the Middle East, if you enquire and learn when to go.
But Khamis'Abdullah Braiki remembers when his father taught him how to hunt for them: "At the same time as hunting for birds and gazelle, we would gather a basket of truffles and roast them in the ashes of our nightly coffee fire." He is also quick to point out that truffle-gathering in North Africa is not without peril as large areas of the coastal desert were mined in World War II, and more than one truffler has been injured in an encounter with unexploded ordnance. More recently in Kuwait, some undesirable aspects of the 1990-1991 Gulf War seems to have ruined many truffle-gathering areas and the truffle zone of Mutlah Ridge north of Kuwait is littered with shrapnel and buried ammo spoiling it for we Westerners and the native truffle hunters.
Once found desert truffles have two enemies, sunlight and humidity, and the only way to avoid these is to cook and eat them while fresh. I made the mistake of trying to store truffles in a fridge - it is not advised.
Are desert truffles hunted in Arizona or the desert of New Mexico or only in Europe, North Africa and Arabia. One thing is sure, the traditional French and Italian technique of hunting truffles in Perigord with dogs , or snoutling out apple-orchard truffles near Sienna Italy with pigs - these are white European truffle hunting techniques classed as 'Haram' or unkosher in the Porkophobic dog-hating world of the Jew and his semitic kinsman the desert Muslim.
After you have come upon your truffles, by a long day's scrabbling in the sand or by a timely trip to the market, what do you do with them: First, keep in mind that desert truffles should never be cooked too much-no more than a few minutes. Roasting them in campfire ashes remains one cooking method, and the Kuwaitis like to boil them in camel's milk or roast them in melted butter. Lacking a campfire or a camel, however, western gourmets prefer to boil them in cow's milk . I prefer to gently fry them in butter..
Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, referred to truffles in 500 BC as "a natural phenomenon of great complexity, one of the strangest plants, without root, stem, fiber, branch, bud, leaf, or flower." Truffles grow completely out of sight, below the surface of the soil, and no one can predict exactly where they will grow, or when. All of them grow wild: No one has ever managed to grow them under cultivation.
And the treasured desert truffle of the Middle East, it is widely believed, is spawned by lightning and a clap of thunder. But don't let this put you off. If a basket of desert truffles should come your way, you should know that they make delicious eating. Wrinkled and gnarled when dug up, and slightly perfumed, they look for all the world like bruised, lobed potatoes, wizened walnuts or dried prunes. Their appearance is of course deceptive-part of the mystique.
Brown, black, creamy white, sometimes pink, there are more than two dozen varieties - if you can only find them.
Desert truffles lie in wait in arid areas all around the Mediterranean, especially along the North African coast from Morocco to Egypt and farther east across the great desert plain from Derrazour to Dammam , from Baghdad to Dubai . In all this vast region of the earth, you will find few, if any, surface signs to show you where the truffles are hiding-yet in all these regions, people gather truffles for food.
Truffles go by different names in different places. In Morocco they are called terfez-probably the source of the Latin botanical name. In Egypt the Bedouin of the Western Desert call them terfas. The Iraqis Kuwaitis and Saudis call them fagga, or zubaydi. In the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where they are found is mainly south of AlKhafji near the Turkish Fort of Nayariyah and Safaniyah 35 km north of Jubail.
Usually no more than a few centimeters across, but occasionally the size of a fist, desert truffles are light in weight typically weighing from 30 to 300 grams . A Bedouin truffle-gatherer has stated "The number and size of the truffles are influenced by the force of thunderclaps." indicating the connection between the short and unpredictable wet season of desert rains in October and November to start the truffles germinating. Too much rain at the wrong time can rot the truffle spores. Then the weather must remain dry during January, followed by a light shower or two in the spring to bring on the truffles in February and March. Altogether, researchers have found, as little as 200 to 250 millimeters of rain (8-10") can produce a good crop, and when there is less, experienced truffle-gatherers know to look preferentially in hollows and other places that may dry out more slowly.
They also know to look for certain plants that have a symbitic relationship with the desert truffle such as shrub like Helianthemum species. Desert truffles are often found nearby. Fungal filaments of the truffle penetrate the roots of the other plant-sometimes reaching as far as 40 centimeters to obtain nourishment and researchers speculate, the truffle produces a substance that inhibits competing plants.
Provided all the circumstances are right, the truffles are ready to be plucked from the sand-if you know where to look. And if the truffles themselves are shyly hidden, the truffle-gatherers of Egypt's Western Desert and Shias of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province are downright secretive. Information on where truffles might be found is kept in the dark.
But you might get a few hints, along the lines of "Where the desert rag-rug flower grows," or instructions that the best times of day to go in search of truffles are at the bewitching hours of sunrise or sunset, when any slight rise in the sand casts a shadow that indicates a truffle might be hiding nearly a hand's breadth below. Perhaps it is best left to those who know the trade well, for you can get desert truffles at many markets throughout the Middle East, if you enquire and learn when to go.
But Khamis'Abdullah Braiki remembers when his father taught him how to hunt for them: "At the same time as hunting for birds and gazelle, we would gather a basket of truffles and roast them in the ashes of our nightly coffee fire." He is also quick to point out that truffle-gathering in North Africa is not without peril as large areas of the coastal desert were mined in World War II, and more than one truffler has been injured in an encounter with unexploded ordnance. More recently in Kuwait, some undesirable aspects of the 1990-1991 Gulf War seems to have ruined many truffle-gathering areas and the truffle zone of Mutlah Ridge north of Kuwait is littered with shrapnel and buried ammo spoiling it for we Westerners and the native truffle hunters.
Once found desert truffles have two enemies, sunlight and humidity, and the only way to avoid these is to cook and eat them while fresh. I made the mistake of trying to store truffles in a fridge - it is not advised.
Are desert truffles hunted in Arizona or the desert of New Mexico or only in Europe, North Africa and Arabia. One thing is sure, the traditional French and Italian technique of hunting truffles in Perigord with dogs , or snoutling out apple-orchard truffles near Sienna Italy with pigs - these are white European truffle hunting techniques classed as 'Haram' or unkosher in the Porkophobic dog-hating world of the Jew and his semitic kinsman the desert Muslim.