By Clint Thompson
One University of Georgia scientist is hoping his beloved canine can help pecan growers sniff out new profits in the form of truffles.
Tim Brenneman, a plant pathologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is training “Goldie,” a Lagotto Romagnolo, to sniff out and find truffles hidden in pecan orchards.
Truffles are a type of mushroom that aid in the nutrition of pecan trees. They grow on the trees’ roots and collect essential nutrients.
Brenneman said the dog breed has been used for generations to find truffles in Europe. He’s hoping the same logic can be used to find these potential gems growing just beneath the surface in the Southeast.
“I think dogs like Goldie are the secret to developing pecan truffles. I know that they can grow abundantly in South Georgia,” Brenneman said. “We don’t understand where they are or why they’re there, but the key is being able to find them. They grow underground where you can’t see them.”
Before Goldie
Before dogs like “Goldie” were made available to hunt for truffles, pecan growers were resorted to blindly raking away the soil surface in hopes of finding something that may not even be there.
“I found them for years just taking a garden rake and raking blindly under trees where I had seen them in the past. Occasionally, they’ll actually stick out of the ground. That’s how I found them originally back in 1987,” Brenneman said. “But when you rake, you rake whatever is there. You get the mature ones, the little ones, basically ruining that year’s crop when you rake. The truffle is still there. The fungus is on the roots of the trees.
“But the key with the dogs is they find the biggest most mature truffles, ones that smell the most. You can go through an orchard and find a half-pound or a pound; whatever you find, the largest, most mature truffles. You come back in a couple of weeks and find the others that are maturing, and you keep coming back continually. It’s much more sustainable.”
High Demand
Just like their French cousins, truffles found in Georgia are in high demand to be used in the gourmet food industry. Truffles can be added to pasta, lobster or even grits.
“These things have value. They can sell for hundreds of dollars per pound to high-end restaurants. Those biggest, mature truffles are more valuable than a general population that you rake where you have immature ones and mature ones. The dogs are really key to making this go as an industry,” Brenneman said.