A taste for truffles: Susi Gott Seguret shares the secret of where these culinary gems are hiding out locally.

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Imagine the scent of a deep oak forest, shades of evergreen mixed in with decaying leaves and a twinge of a chill in the air. There's a mystery hanging amongst the branches reaching out over root systems that are waiting, waiting ...

Beneath the brown earth, something is in the making--something musky, feral, elusive and alluring. An almost invisible mycelium has attached to its oak and hazelnut hosts and is slowly transforming into a sack of spores with the richest scent attainable in the food world.

North Carolina has long been known for its tobacco cash crop. The spongy, yellow-green leaves have been the queens of the field for as long as many of us can remember. Now that Americans have been leaning towards health-conscious choices, tobacco farmers have seen the value of their beloved crops dwindle on the market.

Enter Franklin Garland. A North Carolinian of Guatemalan heritage, Garland, upon hearing a rumor that the French had developed a method for inoculation of the elusive Perigord truffle (Tuber melanosporum), planted his first truffle-infected seedlings in 1980 and was rewarded with his first harvest in 1992. Since then, he has been fine-tuning his techniques and has developed the first truffle nursery on the east coast, one of the only nurseries in North America.

Eager to share his expertise in what has for centuries been a hit-or-miss venture, Garland applied for a grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund to supply 50 state tobacco farmers with 200 filbert trees apiece and the resources to lime their soil to obtain the proper truffle-friendly pH of 6.8-8.

One of the farmers captivated by the idea was Lee Tuttle of Brevard. Originally from Cincinnati, Tuttle and her husband moved to the area 11 years ago, attracted by Western North Carolina's friendly growing climate.

Lured by the local food scene, Tuttle soon found herself volunteering at nearby Queen's Produce and Berry Farm in Pisgah Forest. Seven years later, she and business partner Charlie Rhodes "bought the farm" (a phrase that has become a standing family joke). In the spring of 2004, she planted the 200 filbert seedlings provided by Garland and now waits for the golden moment when the first nugget shall appear.

Five years is generally the minimum wait for filbert trees to produce their first prizes, although Garland, the "Truffle Tsar" as his wife, Betty, fondly calls him, has been known to have success in as little as four years.

Harvesting season for the Tuber melanosporum is anywhere from late November through the early weeks of March. Tuttle, whose farm is at an altitude of 2,200 feet, has yet to see what unexpected freezes may do to her crop. But her odds are good, as truffles require a four-season environment to produce healthily.

Dr. Tom Michaels, in nearby Chuckey, Tennessee, recently entered his third year of truffle production. A plant pathologist originally from Oregon, Michaels planted his orchard of 2,500 trees in 2000 and has marketed his truffles to top restaurateurs in New York, Atlanta, Knoxville and New Orleans. At current wholesale prices of $800 a pound and retail prices of around $2,000 a pound, the truffle market is far more generous than the tobacco market. An acre can produce anywhere from 40-100 pounds in a good year.

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Truffles must ideally be eaten within 10 days of being extracted from the earth, thus the advantage of having a local source is tremendous. Bake a potato, shave a few slivers of the black, marbled flesh into the potato's creamy interior, add a touch of fresh butter and sea salt, and heaven is on your plate!

For more information on local truffles, visit www .garlandtruffles.com, www.queensberryfarm.com, www.tennessetruffle.com, www.bdft.com and www.nctruffles.com.

Susi Gott Seguret is the director of the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts. A native of Madison County, she lives 10 months of the year in France, where she collects recipes and truffle trivia to share with her culinary students upon her return to the mountains in July (this year's School sessions are July 13-19 and 20-26). For more information on the School, call 828-301-2792 or visit www.schoolofculinaryarts.org.