https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/jul/24/puzzle-of-prized-white-truffles-finally-yields-science-fungi [p] Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Advertisement US edition[ ] * US edition * UK edition * Australian edition * International edition The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian: news website of the year Search jobs Sign in Search [ ] * News * Opinion * Sport * Culture * Lifestyle ShowMoreShow More * [ ]News + US news + World news + Environment + Soccer + US politics + Business + Tech + Science + Newsletters + Fight to vote * [ ]Opinion + The Guardian view + Columnists + Letters + Opinion videos + Cartoons * [ ]Sport + Soccer + NFL + Tennis + MLB + MLS + NBA + NHL + F1 * [ ]Culture + Film + Books + Music + Art & design + TV & radio + Stage + Classical + Games * [ ]Lifestyle + Fashion + Food + Recipes + Love & sex + Home & garden + Health & fitness + Family + Travel + Money + Make a contribution + Subscribe * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Puzzles app + Guardian content licensing site + The Guardian app + Video + Podcasts + Pictures + Inside the Guardian + Guardian Weekly + Crosswords * + Facebook + Twitter * + Search jobs + Digital Archive + Guardian Puzzles app + Guardian content licensing site * World * Europe * US * Americas * Asia * Australia * Middle East * Africa * Inequality * Global development The ObserverFood Puzzle of prized white truffle finally yields to science No one has been able to farm the rare, expensive fungus on a commercial scale - until now Carlo Marenda and his dog search for white truffles in Roddi, near Alba, north-western Italy. [ ] Carlo Marenda and his dog search for white truffles in Roddi, near Alba, north-western Italy. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Carlo Marenda and his dog search for white truffles in Roddi, near Alba, north-western Italy. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Nic Fleming Sun 24 Jul 2022 02.45 EDTLast modified on Sun 24 Jul 2022 08.51 EDT * * * They emit intense aromas of garlic and fermented cheese, and are so rare that they can fetch up to PS9,000 a kilogram. Now, the puzzle that has confounded experts for more than half a century, of how to cultivate the elusive white truffle on a commercial scale, appears to have been solved. 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 Perigord truffles sold are cultivated, previous attempts to farm their rarer white cousins have failed. This bumper harvest follows two productive years at the experimental plantation during which barely a handful were cultivated. "This significant increase in production is very promising," said mycologist and project leader Dr Claude Murat, of INRAE and the University of Lorraine, Nancy. "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, like many other fungi, form symbiotic relationships with certain tree species by linking up with their roots. They deliver extra water and minerals to trees in exchange for carbon-based nutrients. Scientists developed a way to inoculate trees with Perigord truffles in the 1970s, leading to the establishment of thousands of plantations in France, Italy and later Spain. The same technique failed with Italian white truffles (Tuber magnatum), despite planting 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 in which T. magnatum occurs naturally, researchers believe these came from native fungi. Starting in 1999, researchers at INRAE and the Pepinieres Robin nursery, in France, produced oak trees genetically confirmed to have partnered Italian white truffles. These were planted in a number of truffle orchards from 2008. Tests on soil samples from five sites, all outside the part of the country where the species occurs naturally, showed the fungus was present at four of these. Three truffles were found at the orchard in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 2019 and four were found in 2020. The 26 found in 2021 weighed about 900g in total. So far, 12 of the 52 oaks planted in 2015 have produced 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 whose company Mycorrhizal Systems works with commercial partners to develop 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." Fungus farming: how to grow your own mushrooms Read more Murat and fellow INRAE mycologist Dr Cyrille Bach have provided details of the conditions in which the truffles grew, in research that will be published in Le Trufficulteur, the magazine of the French Federation of Truffle Growers this week. "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. Rising temperatures and reduced water availability in Spain, Italy and southern France are, some argue, opening up opportunities for truffle entrepreneurs farther north, including in 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. This article was amended on 24 July 2022 to remove the suggestion that white truffles smell like methane, which is an odourless gas. 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