Truffles
Truffle Hunting In The UK
How To Find Truffles
Truffles are considered to be one of the most delicate and incredible tasting foods of all and are seen to be a real gourmet treat, with very intense and distinct flavours which are unrivalled by any other type of food. Combined with the fact that as of yet Truffles cannot be cultivated commercially and what you have is a very expensive and prized asset which is very hard to get hold of.
A couple of years ago a hong-kong businessman paid $330,000 for just 1.5kg of White Truffles, a type of Truffle that originates in Piedmont, a nothern region in Italy. Italy is home to the Tuber Magnatum or the White Truffle. France is another country that is considered to be home to many other rare and valuable Truffles, and is the home of the Tuber Melanosporum which grows in the Periford region of France. It may come as a surprise to many people to hear that England also has its own Truffles and it is known as the home of the Tuber Aestivum, also known as the Summer Truffle. Other Truffles do grow in the UK but the majority of these aren't considered edible, apart from the Summer Truffle.
Truffles are very different to mushrooms, belonging to the Tuber family, a completely different type of fungi that actually grow underground and have relationships with roots of other trees. In the UK they are known to grow specifically with Oak and Beech trees, prefering chalky soil. Because they grow beneath the soil they are understandably very difficult to spot, and this is why that in the past pigs were used to locate these Truffles. They release pheromones and female pigs are very good at being able to sniff out the Truffles, the only problem is making sure that the pig doesn't eat them before you manage to pick it up! Dogs are most commenly used now when it comes to finding Truffles, and some people actually offer a dog-training service to enable your dog to be able to pick up the scent of the Truffles.
Some Mycologists and entrepreneurs are currently working to try and discover a way of cultivating some of the varieties of edible Truffles and have realised that by planting seedlings next to trees that are known to be hosting Truffles the new seedling will become innoculated with the same relationship with the Truffles and so many years later that seedling will have its own Truffles! However it could take around 20 or more years for the first Truffles to be produced.
You may have noticed that there currently aren't many books or pieces of information available on the whereabouts of Truffles in the UK or infact any other countries around the world, this may be because they are considered to be too much of a lucrative asset to the experts that know of their secret locations, or perhaps simply that it is too hard to tell someone how to find Truffles. You won't find Truffles listed in any of the mushroom finding books, and yet they are meant to be one of the nicest tasting fungi's of all. They are certainly well worth the extra effort that will undoubtedly be required if you ever wish to try and find Truffles yourself, which is likely to be the only way you will ever get your hands on a whole Truffle considering the price of around £1000 per kilogram of Truffle.
Truffle Books