Scientists sniff out a new market for UK farmers – £773 a lb truffles
RARE black truffles, worth up to £773 a pound, can now be grown in Britain because of climate change, scientists have discovered.
Mediterranean black truffles are mostly found in northern Spain, southern France and northern Italy because they need warmer and drier conditions. But scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Stirling, working with Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd (MSL), a truffle genetics expert, have managed to cultivate the rare aromatic fungus in
Wales and believe it could grow at similar latitudes across Britain.
The team inoculated the root system of a Mediterranean oak tree with truffle spores and a black truffle was harvested by truffle-sniffing dog Bella in Monmouthshire in March this year. Further microscopic and genetic analysis confirmed that Bella’s find was a Perigord black truffle, worth up to £773 a lb (£1,700 a kilo). It is the second most commercially valuable species after the white truffle.
Truffle production has been declining on the Continent over the past few decades, largely because of climate change, sending prices soaring. Dr Paul Thomas, of MSL and the University of Stirling, said: “This cultivation has shown that the climatic tolerance of truffles is much broader than previously thought, but it’s likely that it is only possible because of climate change, and only in some areas of the UK.
“This is one of the best-flavoured truffle species in the world and the potential for industry is huge.
“We planted the trees just to monitor their survival, but we never thought this Mediterranean species could actually grow in the UK – it’s an incredibly exciting development.”
A study by the firm, together with Cambridge University, has now been published in the journal Climate Research and suggests that truffle cultivation could become widespread in Britain as the climate warms.
However, Prof Ulf Büntgen of Cambridge’s department of geography said: “It’s a risky investment for farmers. Even though humans have been eating truffles for centuries, we know remarkably little about how they grow and how they interact with their host trees.”
The first Welsh truffle, which weighed half an ounce (16 grams), has been preserved for posterity.