Truffle Cappuccino Soup by Chef Rick Tramonto
Joining our host Chef Ken Frank of La Toque for the 2016 Napa Truffle Festival are three master chefs, including San Francisco's David Barzelay of Lazy Bear, Italy's Stefano Ciotti of Nestrano and New Orleans’ Rick Tramonto of Restaurant R'evolution. As a special preview, Chef Rick shared his delicious, soul warming recipe for truffle cappuccino soup. It's easy! Rick Tramonto [...]
Spore Mats – An Intriguing Phenomena
Spore mats are an intriguing phenomena. For certain fungi, they may be quite visible as dense mats of fungi in the ground that produce spores. Spores are, of course, the seeds of a fungus and those that are found on spore mats are often mitospores, whereas those that form from a fruiting body, such as a truffle or a mushroom [...]
Salsify Soup with Black Truffle, Scallions and Duck Prosciutto By Chef Gabriel Kreuther
In 2010, Chef Gabriel Kreuther was among the first five Michelin star chefs to join us for the inaugural Napa Truffle Festival. Working together, the master chef team created incredible dishes for our now signature Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque. Our chefs' blog this month features Chef Gabriel's simple, yet amazingly complex and delightful truffled soup that we [...]
Robert Chang & Dr. Paul Thomas Score Truffles Down Under
During our recent trek Down Under, Dr. Paul Thomas and I spent time in Manjimup Western Australia researching and foraging for black European truffles—the very same black diamonds that ATC cultivates with our truffle partners here in North America. Our time there was educational and exhilarating. See Dr. Thomas' July blog for insights about the truffle rot that's plaguing many [...]
Examining Truffle Rot in Australia
Last month, Robert Chang and I visited Western Australia to explore several facets of their native truffle industry. While there, I was particularly keen to look at the issues many orchards are having with truffle rot. Despite the fact that some plantations in Western Australia produce very good yields, there has been a localized problem with truffles rotting before they [...]
Copper River Sockeye Salmon with a Cannelloni of Mascarpone, English Peas, Morels, Frothy Mushroom Broth and Fresh Black Truffles
In 2014, Chef Carrie Nahabedian of Michelin star NAHA in Chicago joined us for the 4th annual Napa Truffle Festival. Along with preparing a dish for the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque, she prepared this over-the-top delicious salmon dish for the Nickel & Nickel Winery Truffle Lunch to pair with the winery's lovely EnRoute Pinot Noir, Russian River, [...]
A Role for Mating Types in Truffles
Despite the traditional focus by truffle cultivation researchers and practitioners on site selection and in-field methodologies, it is a new genetic understanding that represents a new frontier. In 2010 the genome of Tuber melanosporum (black European truffles), the world’s most commercially valuable cultivatable truffle species and the focus of American Truffle Company's ongoing research and partnership developments, was sequenced for [...]
Potato Wrapped Cannelloni of Beef Brasato with Truffled Verdure by Chef Suzette Gresham
In 2012, Chef Suzette Gresham of Michelin star Acquerello in San Francisco, joined the Napa Truffle Festival for its second year of the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque and its first year of Winery Truffle Lunches. Her user-friendly approach to food preparation made the cooking demonstration at Robert Mondavi Winery as fun as it was thrilling (complete with [...]
The BEST Black Truffle Arancini Recipe by Chef Jarad Gallagher
In 2014, the Napa Truffle Festival invited Chef Jarad Gallagher of Michelin star Chez TJ in Mountain View to participate as a guest chef during the festival weekend. His friendly, bright contributions included a dish for the Saturday Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque, and a cooking demonstration and truffle menu for the Winery Truffle Lunch at HALL Wines. [...]
Chef Roberto Donna Shares his Black Truffle Risotto Recipe
It's been less than three months since the 5th annual Napa Truffle Festival, but we already miss our guest Master Chef Roberto Donna who brought a lively and very Italian energy to the table with his fabulous food and friendly, dynamic personality. Below he shares his famous Black Truffle Risotto, which he demonstrated during the festival weekend. Born in the [...]
A healthy truffle tree makes for happy truffles
Growing truffles isn't just about keeping the truffle-fungi happy, it’s also about making sure the host tree is in good condition. The truffle relies on the living host tree for its own survival and, if we want to produce truffles, this needs to be a healthy partnership. As we’re heading towards the end of May, our trees have broken out [...]