Truffles ‘n’ hazelnuts galore

Truffle season is behind us, but foodies who like to plan ahead (waaay ahead) should get in on this: trees inoculated with French black truffles. There’s a year lead-time, and it would take a few years to produce truffles, but it’d be worth it just to harvest your very own little aromatic morsels. (I’m already prepared — my snorty pet English bulldog can be my truffle pig!) They’ve even inoculated hazelnut trees, so you can harvest nuts while you’re at it.

It might be a pipe dream to think any of this would work here in the desert, but please let me hold on to the fantasy…