HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — The two contenders in the great North Carolina truffle wars could not be more different.

Susan Rice Alexander, the showy newcomer, lives by the fifth hole of a golf course and is married to an orthopedic surgeon. Franklin Garland, the eccentric veteran, lives with his wife at the end of a rutted dirt road.

Ms. Alexander has a personal photographer and runs garden club tours through her 10,000-square-foot home, feeding them truffle-laced grilled cheese sandwiches.

Mr. Garland has 20 canaries and a mermaid statue in the house he built himself, and likes to mix chopped truffles into ice cream from Costco.