French scientists have succeeded in growing the very expensive and rare white truffle

This week, scientists from France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) revealed that at a site in New Aquitaine, western France, they have grown 26 white truffles.

“With black truffles it is common to have only a few truffles at first and then a rapid increase and it seems that the white truffle is behaving in the same way which is good news for the future crop“, the head of the program told the “Guardian” newspaper, Claude Muratof INRAE ​​and the University of Lorraine in Nancy.

Truffles, like many other fungi, create symbiotic relationships with certain types of trees, connecting to their roots. They provide extra water and minerals to trees in exchange for carbon-based nutrients. Scientists developed a way of inoculating Périgord truffle trees in the 1970s, resulting in thousands of plantations in France, Italy and later Spain. The same technique failed with Italian white truffles (Tuber magnatum), despite the planting of more than 500,000 seedlings in Italy.

A few truffles were found in the plantations 15-20 years after planting, but because these were in areas where T. magnatum occurs naturally, the researchers believe they came from native fungi. Tests on soil samples from five areas, all outside the part of the country where the species occurs naturally, showed that the fungus was present in four of them. Three truffles were found in the orchard in New Aquitaine in 2019 and four in 2020. The 26 found in 2021 weighed a total of about 900 grams. So far, 12 of the 52 oak trees planted in 2015 have produced truffles.

“This is the first time that Tuber magnatum fruiting bodies have been cultivated in significant numbers outside of its natural range, so this is a very exciting development.” said Professor Paul Thomas, a Scotland-based mycologist whose company works with commercial partners to develop black truffle plantations. “Many previous attempts have failed, so we still need to learn more about how they succeeded and how to replicate it».

Rising temperatures and reduced water availability in Spain, Italy and southern France are opening up, some argue, opportunities for truffle entrepreneurs further north, including the UK. “With acres of limestone soil there is good potential for growing truffles, including UK white truffles“said the chief.

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