Product Review

Tuber melanosporum, called the black truffle, Périgord truffle or French black truffle, is a species of truffle native to Southern Europe. It is one of the most expensive edible mushrooms in the world. The natural habitat of the black truffle includes various regions in Spain, France, and Italy. These are presumably the areas where the host plants found refuge during the last Ice Age. In these areas, the search for black truffles and their cultivation is a tradition going back more than 200 years. There are large areas of natural forests where truffles are still collected manually in a traditional way. For example, the county of Alto Maestrazgo (province of Castellón, Spain) has an ideal ground with suitable conditions for cultivating truffles. Albocàsser, Atzaneta, Culla, or Morella are just some of the villages in this region where you can find black truffles in large amounts. Nevertheless, this form of recollection is increasingly affected by climate change and since the years 2010 there has been a significant drop in productivity in naturally producing forests. In exchange, cultivated areas are increasingly popular and in central Spain, several thousands of hectares (the Mecca of the black truffle being in Soria, Teruel province in the Aragon region). Some experiments have also been conducted in burnt areas, with promising results, as legally there is no need to ask for a land-use change when planting truffles, as it can be considered (EU-28) as forest land. Black truffles are now also cultivated in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, North America, South Africa, and Wales. Cultivation involves the planting of, for example, hazel trees whose roots are inoculated with truffle mycelium. There are two main ways of growing: Outdoor planting under tree and Outdoor planting with tree seedlings and. Instructions for these two types of growing are attached.