CAMBR I DGE ON A P L ATE
“The history of British chocolate making goes back to the Victorian Quakers”
and climate change mean a return to a more welcoming environment for truffles. So, where do I go for my truffles? (As I do not yet have my truffle hound.) Should I hunt out Bumble & Oak’s rurally inspired chocolate truffles and gold- dusted acorns by Riadh Falvo, who is based locally in Newnham at Meadows Shop? As a trained chocolatier, she formulates artisanal chocolate recipes using tea infusions, herbal concoctions, foraged cordials and tinctures. Who knows, might I find under the tree a lavish box of Hotel Chocolat tipsy truffles, or cinnamon-dusted Chocolat Chocolat truffles? Or will my daughter present me with a truffle-filled cheese from Cambridge Cheese Company? Or maybe truffle honey and truffle oil from Culinaris or The Gog? What delightful Christmas alternatives.
grating them delicately over a dish raises interesting questions. If the truffles were stewed, was this because no one had thought of consuming them raw or because they were prolifically available? At Cambridge University Botanic Garden, scientific research is being carried out into the life cycle of English truffles and, as the garden has been in existence for 170 years, it is an ideal place to look at the favoured host trees. Truffles have Truffles were collected commercially in England up to 1935. But as loss of local knowledge in the first world war, loss of rural land to house and road building, plus felling of ancient trees meant that the woods the truffles once flourished in were gone. However, gentler land management a symbiotic relationship with trees, exchanging water and nutrients for hosting among their roots.
and sweet herbs, then draining them and serving with lemon slices. Alternatively, they can be stewed ‘as fowls’ and served with a white or brown sauce. There are two types of English truffles – the winter or burgundy truffle, tuber uncinatum, harvested between August and late December, and the summer truffle, tuber aestivum, harvested between April and August, now recognised as the same species. The first is darker, nuttier and more pungent; the other is paler and has a more subtle aroma and flavour. The odour of both truffles is of mushrooms, undergrowth and roasted barley malt, tasting of hazelnuts. The winter truffle has a stronger odour. Neither are as strong or costly as the black périgord or white Italian truffles. The idea of a contemporary chef or cook stewing truffles rather than
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