Puzzle of prized white truffle finally yields to science | Food

They emit intense aromas of garlic, fermented cheese and methane, and are so rare that they can fetch up to £9,000 a kilogram. It seems that the mystery of how to commercially grow white truffles has been solved, a puzzle that has bewildered experts for more than 50 years.

This week, scientists from France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), will reveal that, at a secret location in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France, they have cultivated 26 white truffles.

While more than 90% of black, highly prized Périgord truffles sold They are now being cultivated after previous attempts to raise their rarer white cousins had failed. This bumper harvest follows two years of fruitful experimentation at the plantation where only a few were cultivated.

“This significant increase in production is very promising,” said Dr. Claude Murat (INRAE, University of Lorraine, Nancy) is a mycologist and project leader. “It confirms the truffle is well established.

“With black truffles it is usual to have just a few truffles at first and then a quick increase, and it seems the white truffle is behaving in the same way, which is good news for future cultivation.”

Truffles, along with many other fungi form symbiotic relations with certain tree species through their linkage with their roots. They exchange carbon-based nutrients for extra water and minerals.

Scientists developed a way to inoculate trees with Périgord truffles in the 1970s, leading to the establishment of thousands of plantations in France, Italy and later Spain. This same method failed to work with white truffles from Italy (Tuber magnatumHowever, more than 500,000 Italian seedlings were planted in Italy.

Although a few truffles were discovered in plantations after 15-20 years, they were not in areas where there was high demand. T. magnatum These occur naturally. Researchers believe they are native fungi.

Starting in 1999, researchers at INRAE and the Pépinières Robin nursery, in France, produced oak trees genetically confirmed to have partnered Italian white truffles. These trees were planted in numerous truffle orchards beginning in 2008.

Five soil samples were tested, none of which was in the region where the species is naturally found.

In 2019, three truffles were discovered at an orchard in Nouvelle Aquitaine, and four in 2020. The total weight of 26 truffles discovered in 2021 was around 900g. Twelve of 52 oaks that were planted in 2015 have yielded truffles.

“It’s the first time Tuber magnatum fruiting bodies have been grown in significant numbers outside its natural range, so it’s a very exciting development,” said Prof Paul Thomas, a Scotland-based mycologist who runs Mycorrhizal Systems and works with commercial partners in developing black truffle plantations. “Many previous attempts have failed, so we still need to know more about how they have done it and how to replicate that.”

Murat and Cyrille Bach, an INRAE mycologist have detailed the conditions where the truffles grew in their research. This information will be published in Le TrufficulteurThe French Federation of Truffle Growers’ magazine, titled?????

“We need to see the results of further experiments, but this opens up what could be the attractive possibility for truffle growers to diversify into a new market,” said Alain Ambialet (president of the French Federation of Truffle Growers).

Some argue that rising temperatures and decreased water availability in Spain and Italy are opening up opportunities for truffle entrepreneurs further north, including the UK. “With acres of calcareous soil and less water stress, there is a good potential of truffle cultivation including white truffles in the UK,” said Murat.