STANFORD AND TRUFFLES

Now how would Stanford University be connected to truffles, which, for this discussion, is not the candy, but the fungus?  The latest issue of STANFORD makes this link.  First, though, a few tidbits from this publication:

• Stanford is 125 years old, not a big deal, for the University of Hawaii is 108 and Harvard...379!
• The Stanford Energy System Innovations program has reduced campus greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.  The goal is for  65% of the electricity to be renewable.  However, no date was provided.
• 39,900 active companies can trace their roots to Stanford.

There were two articles that drew my particular attention.  One was entitled Fungus Among Us, about how a Stanford electrical engineering graduate, Robert Chan, son of a Taiwanese pilot and high school teacher, started what must be the first really progressive truffle company in the USA, the American Truffle Company.

Never having before tasted this mushroom (part of fungus family, and truffles are a specie of mushrooms) before, Chan had a dish of buttery tagliatelle with shaves of black Perigord truffle, said to cost upwards of $1200/pound.  He was blown away by the addictive aroma.  What made him unique is that he had also earned an MBA from Stanford.   So 13 years ago, he did some due diligence and totally changed his career to company president for a start-up, not unusual for Stanford, but never before for truffles.  

Chan:

• found 
• in the UK the world authority on truffle mycorrhiza (the symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant roots),  Paul Thomas, who became Chief Scientist and
• a nursery in Oregon, which now sells oak and filbert trees inoculated with truffle spores.  (Indigenous Oregon truffles sell for 10% the European variety--because it lacks that special bouquet--but this latest innovation will make that necessary difference.)
• convinced vineyard owners to convert their poorest lands into truffle orchards, for the revenue stream could well be five times higher/acre.

• is looking forward to the first harvest from Robert Sinsky (right) Vineyards in Sonoma, as it takes five years for the system to mature, and T-Day will occur this Winter.

• organized an annual Napa Truffle Festival.
• is close to developing the uber expensive white truffle for inoculation, previously only grown in Italy.

Chan stores his eggs in truffles, which impart that distinctive perfume to satisfy his addiction.  I wonder if he imbibes Stanford wines?

If you've been reading this blog, I reported that I got almost an overdose of truffles on my Grand Around the World Adventure.  Just a lunch in Venice at Quadri on St. Mark's Square featured five courses, each with white truffles.  Even the dessert was generously topped with them.  This was probably the best meal I've ever had in my life.

Stanley Ho of Macau, of course, is noted for his truffles fetish:  he paid $330,000 for almost 3 pounds of white truffles.  That's $110,000/pound.  Here, his wife, Angela Leong, holds a 3.3 pound white truffle. 

That second article is entitled Danger Ahead, the genetic engineering of embryos, which has inspired headlines like "We Can Now Engineer the Human Race."  I'll focus on this subject in a posting next week.

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THE MAGIC OF TRUFFLES

Truffles, like mushrooms, are fungi, but instead grow below the surface of the soil.  They form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain trees and the white (above) of Italy can attain a weight of around three pounds (although most are much much less than a pound) and the black (right, Perigord, which has already been genome sequenced) of France maybe as high as a quarter pound (although that would be a very large size).  

Truffles were prized as early as the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia.  The Romans brought them to Europe, where many a king's court served them as delicacies.  As best as I can determine, they are important for four reasons: as an uber-expensive epicurean treat, essential element of the tree ecosystem, for your health (antituberculosis effect, with strong anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties) and a hallucinogenic. 

An excellent recent article is "The Hidden Life off Truffles," from Scientific American:

  1.  The French black truffles contain androstenal (above), a sex hormone found in the saliva only of male pigs. This is why only female pigs are used to hunt for them.  However, the Lagotto Romagnolo, a dog, is now used because pigs eat the truffles, while dogs can be trained to accept a cheap treat.

  

2.  Truffle oil usually contains an artificial flavorant, 2.4-dithiapentane (above), the chemical that provides that distinctive aroma.  Black Moth Vodka, however, is infused with the Perigord version.

3.  Climate change should improve the growing conditions of truffles.

How much do these edible truffles cost?  The Italian white can command a price of up to $5,000/pound at a retailer, while the French black in the range of $2,000/pound.  Macau casino owner Stanley Ho (right) reportedly paid $330,000 for a 3.3 pound white (which would be a world record weight, and that is $100,000/pound) in 2007, and only a few weeks ago paid the same amount for a dinky two and a half pounder ($132,000/pound).

I experienced two truffle encounters on my recent around the world adventure:

  1.  My Best Lunch Ever:  photo of my white truffle risotto--with a Barolo, Brunello and Pinot Grigio--

  2.  Magic Truffles were a trip.

First there were magic mushrooms, which were banned in the Netherlands in 2008 because of incidents--like a 16 year old American girl  senselessly committing suicide.  Then came magic truffles, on a technicality.

A synthesized hallucinogenic is LSD (above).  Remember Timothy Leary of Harvard and the '60's counterculture?  One of the active ingredients in natural magic truffles is psylocybin (left).  It is reported as being non-addictive, and these substances have actually been used to treat cluster headaches and show potential for dealing with psychiatric disorders. 

So on my Amsterdam stop I bought 9 grams of Psilocybe Galindoi in a Smart Shop for $9 (about $500/pound, a lot thriftier than those white and black ones above).  The instructions were to take this on a relatively empty stomach (but water was okay, which reminded me of preparing for a colostomy) and eat all of it.  If you feel uncomfortable my attendant said, drink a can of Coke or any soft drink and the effect would go away.  There were twenty dark brownish pieces (something like the photo above were crumbled) about a quarter the size of a cashew nut, and, amazingly enough, tasted like cashew nuts, with a slightly bitter sensation at the sides of the tongue.

As the effect would not be immediate, I first washed and hung some of my clothes in my hotel room and then took a shower.  At the 15-minute mark, I began to feel anxious, so lay in bed, with the CD playing some New Age music (they say tripping outdoors with a terrific view was best, but I thought I'd play it safe--it would have been safer if a trusted person or doctor were next to you).  An hour into it, my senses seemed to be sharper and I felt my heart rate increase (but this could have just been my imagination).  Time seemed to be slowing down, breathing was a tad more difficult and my body temperature appeared to have increased.  Could I have driven in this condition?  Probably, if absolutely necessary.

Only a few minutes later things in the room looked further away and skewed, and closing my eye threw me into a modern museum of art, Dali-esque visions, and weird, but creative and very psychedelic colors.  Now I can appreciate why some artists go into drugs. So this is how contemporary art developed!

But at this point I was suffering from high anxiety and, after an hour and a half, I thought this was enough, so weaved my way to the refrigerator to drink some soda.  Alas I only saw bottles of alcohol and really expensive water.  So I struggled back to bed.  At this point, I wondered how much longer this would last.  The possibility of forever worried me.  There was a point when I thought it was all over for me because I did not have full control of my self, never before having this sensation.  But at the two hour mark, the effect began to diminish.  By then, I was sweating, profusely.  It was not unlike slowly awaking from a bad dream.  The thought of never again came to mind.  It was not a particularly enjoyable experience.

All this is legal in Amsterdam, and the truffle spores can actually be purchased online, although, I would imagine that would be illegal if shipped to the USA.  In fact, don't even think about it!  Was this all worth it for me?  At a cost of $10, I guess so.  Smart?  Probably not, but I'm still alive and there were no aftereffects.  I've got some ideas now on how best to approach a second journey, but only under optimal conditions.

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POSTINGS I WILL HAVE SOMETIME SOON THIS YEAR

1.  Is Planet Earth really warming?  Well, the South Pole just recorded its all-time high temperature (9.9 F) on Christmas Day, so there is a good probability that I will say YES!  The previous high was 7.5 F on 12December78, so something must be happening to break a record by 2.2 F.  Incidentally, who would have guessed that the highest temperatures in Alaska and Hawaii are the same (100 F).  California, because of Death Valley, reached 134 F, while Libya hit 136 F 90 years ago.  For a six year period in the 1960's, a station in Ethiopia had an average temperature on 94 F.  The average temperature of Honolulu is 77.2 F, but we generally have some ventilating tradewinds.  Just another day (my view while creating this blog) below.  I treat this general subject in Chapter Five of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.

2.  What is the shape of the Universe?  If you subscribe to the Big Bang (and, by the way, The Big Bang Theory has become one of my favorite TV shows), you would think that the shape of our Universe should be the surface of an expanding ball, with some thickness to account for bodies not moving in the direction of the original explosion.  Not so!  Related subjects can be found in Chapter 4 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity.

3.  The truth about Dark Energy and Dark Matter.  No, this has nothing to do with vampire movies nor Star Wars.  This number keeps changing, but visionize stars, the Sun, trees, bacteria...everything you can see.  What you thought was the entire Universe now only accounts for 5%.  Dark Energy and Dark Matter, things you can't see nor measure, are said to be 95% of the Universe.

4.  Some expensive foods.  Last week A Japanese sushi restaurant purchased a 593 pound blue fin tuna (above) for $736,000, or $1,238/pound.  I've seen steak regularly sold in the basement of Tokyo Department Stores for more than $150/pound.  Stanley Ho of Macao bought 2.86 pounds of white truffles for $417,200, or $146,000/pound.  Why?  That's it below, but that is not Stanley Ho.

5.  Steak could be better for your health than low protein foods with extra sugar and fat.  Does this mean that the Atkins Diet is good?  A recent study showed that overeating is bad, of course, but those who have a higher protein diet had a leaner body mass.  Incidentally, 65% of Americans are overweight and as much as one-third obese.

	BMI
Underweight	Below 18.5
Normal	18.5–24.9
Overweight	25.0–29.9
Obesity	30.0 and Above

Calculate your Body Mass Index using the following table:

BMI	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35
Height (inches)	Body Weight (pounds)
58	91	96	100	105	110	115	119	124	129	134	138	143	148	153	158	162	167
59	94	99	104	109	114	119	124	128	133	138	143	148	153	158	163	168	173
60	97	102	107	112	118	123	128	133	138	143	148	153	158	163	168	174	179
61	100	106	111	116	122	127	132	137	143	148	153	158	164	169	174	180	185
62	104	109	115	120	126	131	136	142	147	153	158	164	169	175	180	186	191
63	107	113	118	124	130	135	141	146	152	158	163	169	175	180	186	191	197
64	110	116	122	128	134	140	145	151	157	163	169	174	180	186	192	197	204
65	114	120	126	132	138	144	150	156	162	168	174	180	186	192	198	204	210
66	118	124	130	136	142	148	155	161	167	173	179	186	192	198	204	210	216
67	121	127	134	140	146	153	159	166	172	178	185	191	198	204	211	217	223
68	125	131	138	144	151	158	164	171	177	184	190	197	203	210	216	223	230
69	128	135	142	149	155	162	169	176	182	189	196	203	209	216	223	230	236
70	132	139	146	153	160	167	174	181	188	195	202	209	216	222	229	236	243
71	136	143	150	157	165	172	179	186	193	200	208	215	222	229	236	243	250
72	140	147	154	162	169	177	184	191	199	206	213	221	228	235	242	250	258
73	144	151	159	166	174	182	189	197	204	212	219	227	235	242	250	257	265
74	148	155	163	171	179	186	194	202	210	218	225	233	241	249	256	264	272
75	152	160	168	176	184	192	200	208	216	224	232	240	248	256	264	272	279
76	156	164	172	180	189	197	205	213	221	230	238	246	254	263	271	279	287

If you can't find yourself above, you are in real trouble!  My BMI ranges from 23 to 24.5, depending on when I just ate.  Or, click on Body Mass Index.  Well, I guess, this is long enough to be the posting for the subject.


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The Dow Jones Industrials went up 33 to 12,393, with a mixed world market.  Gold dropped $4/toz to $1613, while the WTI oil is at $102/barrel and Brent Spot at $112/barrel.


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