Growing Fresh Truffles FAQ

What are truffles?
What is a Black Truffle?
Where do truffles grow?
What is Mycelium?
Cultivating truffles
Why are truffles expensive?
When do you harvest truffles?
What breed of dog do you use to hunt truffles?

What are truffles?

Truffles – not to be confused with the chocolate truffle – are a group of valuable and highly sought-after edible species of underground ascomycetes, or fungus, belonging to the funal genus Tuber.

The French black truffle is the fruiting body of the fungus Tuber melanosporum. This fungus forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of oak and hazel trees. The edible portion, or truffle, is harvested in winter after it has matured.

The French black truffle is used as a flavouring (similar to a herb) in a multitude of dishes with foods such as veal, soup, fish, shellfish, eggs game, rice, sauces, salads and much more.

The ascoma, or fruiting body of truffles, is highly prized as a food. The truffle aroma is appealing and earthy, yet not everyone is able to smell the odor of this fungus. If you soak a truffle in water, the water can taste a little like soy sauce.

The word truffle comes from the Latin word ‘tuber’, which means outgrowth. In the middle of the 19th century, France’s most famous gastronome, Jean Brillat-Savarin, called the truffle the ‘diamond of the kitchen’.

In some parts of the world, truffles are praised for their aphrodisiacal powers. However, while this claim has not been established, the truffle is still held in high esteem in French, northern Italian and Istrian (region of Croatia) cooking and in international haute cuisine.

For thousands of years the truffle has been known as one of nature's noblest gastronomic ingredients.

There are over 70 edible species of truffle. The most flavoursome is the French Perigord Black Truffle, scientifically known as Tuber melanosporum. It is the most common variety to be cultivated in a truffle orchard or Truffière.

What is a Black Truffle?

Black Truffle, or Black Perigord Truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is named for the Perigord region in France and grows with oak and hazelnut trees.

Specimens can be found in late autumn and winter and can weigh up to an amzing 1 kg!

Black Truffles look like a nubby sphere with a cracked surface that is greyish-brownish black when mature, but they have a reddish scaly skin when immature. Cracks in the truffle surface create a diamond shaped pattern.

The inside of the truffle is purplish-black, firm and streaked with white veins and this indicates maturity. The aroma of a fresh Black Truffle is appealing and earthy with a nutty taste – which has also been described as a mixture of chocolate and earth.

Where do truffles grow?

Truffles grow in the soil around trees that have the truffle mycelium growing on their roots. In some parts of the world, truffles occur naturally. In other areas, host trees are inoculated with the truffle fungus and planted in a Truffière.

Several possible host trees for black truffles exist, including the common European hazelnut. The first truffles should appear the sixth or seventh year after planting. Truffle dogs are specially trained to locate them (by sniffing them out) during the winter.

Truffles are almost exclusively produced in Europe – 45% in France, 35% in Spain 35%, 20% in Italy and small amounts from Slovenia and Croatia.

Today, the truffles of Southern Europe are cultivated around the world and have been grown in the Southern Hemisphere – New Zealand and Australia – since the early 1990s.

The Wine & Truffle Co’s Manjimup Truffière produces the largest quantity of truffles from one property in the Southern Hemisphere during the winter months, from late May to mid August 2009.

What is Mycelium?

Mycelium (plural mycelia) is the vegetative part of a fungus that consists of a mass of branching of thread-like hyphae (which is the long, branching filamentous cell of a fungus).

It is through the mycelium that a fungus absorbs nutrients from its environment. The thread-like hyphae coats the root of the tree and helps the tree absorb soil minerals. In return, the host tree provides the truffle with carbohydrates and other nutrients that the tree produces through photosynthesis.

Cultivating truffles

Truffles can grow naturally underground along the root of the tree but cultivated trees have been inoculated with truffle spores. Truffles form a symbiotic relationship with the tree, as truffles cannot make their own food.

Truffles can be found anywhere from two to 30 centimetres below the ground and anywhere that the roots of both the hazelnut and oak tree have ventured.

Why are truffles expensive?

They are becoming rare. In the regions of France and Italy where truffles occur naturally, the number of truffles found during harvest has decreased significantly over time. It is thought that this is due to urbanisation, climate change and pollution.

In France prior to 1914, some 1800 tonne of truffles were harvested annually. Now France produces less than 50 tonne per annum. In 1998, annual production was reported to be only 8 tonne. Production is decreasing yet demand is increasing throughout the world.

It is no coincidence therefore, that Tuber melanosporum truffles are known as Black Diamonds.

When do you harvest truffles?

In early winter from late May to mid to late August, the truffle hunters search our Wine & Truffle Co Manjimup Truffière at Hazel Hill, relying on the sensitive noses of their trained dogs to detect the unique scent of the truffle and lead them to the buried treasure.

Our trained truffle dogs will cover the 40 kilometres of truffle tree rows in less than seven days. If a truffle is ready to pick, it is guaranteed it will not be missed.

What breed of dog do you use to hunt truffles?

The Wine & Truffle Co has a team of truffle hunting dogs. They undergo a rigorous training regime in the few months prior to each truffle hunt season so that once the season starts they will be ready to go!