Continuing the Vanderbilt tradition of visionary thinking, the great-grandson of famous pioneer George W. Vanderbilt and CEO of Biltmore FarmsSM, Jack Cecil will continue his ancestor’s unique approach to community building, one that creates sustainability by initiating programs far beyond the scope of typical developers and builders.
Hundreds of trees, inoculated with the appropriate fungus to grow truffles, will be planted as part of a new gardening initiative to be introduced in The Ramble® Biltmore Forest. Cecil envisions it as a wonderful way to encourage community residents to come together around one of the country’s most popular activities of food and wine.It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to realize that the locally cultivated truffles market could be highly coveted. “Even with a conservative yield of 15 to 35 pounds per acre — a typical yield in France — truffles are an extremely lucrative crop,” says Franklin Garland, owner of Garland Truffles (www.GarlandTruffles.com). And because local products would be fresher and more reliable than those shipped from overseas, local growers would have an advantage. After all, there’s a track record in this area for high-end specialty crops, beginning with wine and organic produce. With a profusion of upscale restaurants clustered around Asheville and tourist spots in the region, there’s no shortage of potential customers. In fact, small growers may be able to develop direct relationships with chefs or form co-ops to market their fresh product.
“Fresh, locally grown truffles would be beautiful,” says Joe Scully, executive chef of The Corner Kitchen (www.TheCornerKitchen.com), and truffle aficionado. He emphasizes that he prefers buying directly from local producers. “I buy fruit that way and tomatoes. I know I’m getting the best and freshest products, and the producers deliver them directly to me. Also, they call ahead to tell me they are coming, so I can plan menus and specials around their seasonal produce.”