Hi!

I've wondered for a while now...

They have truffles in europe.. we all hear about the truffles in France and
Italy. Why can't truffles grow here in North America? I'm sure some spots
have the same conditions as they have, so why hasn't anyone brought it over?

With the price of truffles being so high, i would imagine that opening up a
whole new area of production would help, no?

SB

"Stephane" > wrote in message
...
> Hi!
>
> I've wondered for a while now...
>
> They have truffles in europe.. we all hear about the truffles in France
> and
> Italy. Why can't truffles grow here in North America?

They are grown in North America.
http://www.oregonwhitetruffles.com/order.html

to learn how
http://www.truffletrees.com/

Thank you, i was not aware!

Stephane wrote:

> Thank you, i was not aware!

They are well worth saving up for. (especially the French or Italian)
Using the special tool for them or a very sharp knife & slice off the
very thinnest little bit of a tiny slice and sauté it with a couple of
scrambled eggs.
---
Joseph Littleshoes

"Bobbie" in nk.net:
>
> "Stephane" > wrote in message
> ...
>> ...
>> They have truffles in europe.. we all hear about the truffles
>> in France and Italy. Why can't truffles grow here in
>> North America?
>
> They are grown in North America.
> http://www.oregonwhitetruffles.com/order.html


They grow all over the place, wild, evidently, in the right climates in
association with certain trees. Some mushroom people have argued that they
are commonplace in the US. That is not the issue: the problem is that many
of them don't taste very interesting and therefore lack the food interest of
those from famous truffle-harvesting regions.

I've tried the fresh _Tuber oregonensis,_ popular among myco-merchants on
the US Pacific coast this last one or two winters as a novelty item. At US
$1-2 each for 15-20 grams they had an interesting, delicate wild-mushroom
aroma, nothing of the intensity and style of good fresh Piedmont or Périgord
truffles from Europe.

About 20 years ago a respected truffle wholesaler in Northern California
told me of a current fuss because someone discovered the wild truffles in a
wooded area in the region and started harvesting them. The fuss receded
fast because the aroma and flavor were so disappointing.

Such is the cachet of any kind of "truffles" that certain firms in recent
years are packaging more or less flavorless species along with juice or
essence of flavorful ones, and selling the product to indiscriminate
consumers.

(This is something of a Frequently Asked Question online in recent years,
maybe it belongs in the RFC FAQ file, with pointers?)

-- Max

Max Hauser > wrote:

> I've tried the fresh _Tuber oregonensis,_ popular among
> myco-merchants on the US Pacific coast this last one or two
> winters as a novelty item. At US $1-2 each for 15-20 grams
> they had an interesting, delicate wild-mushroom aroma, nothing
> of the intensity and style of good fresh Piedmont or Périgord
> truffles from Europe.

I agree with Max. As of yet, no North American truffle measures
up, nor has anyone been able to cultivate European truffles
(here, or in Europe).

By contrast, many fungi such as the famous _boletus edulis_,
or Porcini, are just as good in North America as they
are in Europe. I saw many excellent specimins while hiking
recently in the Pacific Northwest (but forestry regulations
prohibit taking them, at least where I was).

Steve

Sorry Steve. French Black truffles _have_ been cultivated in the United
States. But production is very minor - less than 25 lbs./year last I
checked.

As for the esteemed Boletus edulis, there is considerable question
whether the European variety (which is often mis-identified, and
mis-labelled with such fungi as Suillus and Tylophilus) is, in
reality, the same fungi found in the United States. Scientists are now
doing DNA analysis to compare the material.

Most of the so-called Boletus edulis marketed in the Pacific Northwest
is, in reality, Boletus pinicola - a similar, rather robust, and
eminently edible species in its own right.

If this seems far-fetched, remember that until Dr. Eric Danell (who has
cultivated Cantharellus cibarius - Golden chanterelle) compared the
Pacific Northwest chanterelle with the material from Sweden, both were
considered to be the same species. His research has shown that C.
cibarius is distinct and different from C. formosus - which is
currently the state mushroom of Oregon, BTW.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

"Stephane" > wrote in message
...
> Hi!
>
> I've wondered for a while now...
>
> They have truffles in europe.. we all hear about the truffles in France
and
> Italy. Why can't truffles grow here in North America? I'm sure some
spots
> have the same conditions as they have, so why hasn't anyone brought it
over?
>
> With the price of truffles being so high, i would imagine that opening up
a
> whole new area of production would help, no?
>
> SB

As well as the info you already have, for more, you can ask at
alt.nature.mushrooms - great group full of knowledgeably folk. There's often
talk of truffle finding there, from people in the US.



Shaun aRe

Truffles _do_ grow here in North America. For more information, do a
Google on the North American Truffling Society, which is now over 25
years old.

Franklin Garland was the first to cultivate French Black truffles
(Tuber melanosporum) outside of Europe in 1992, I believe.Since then,
French Black truffles have been cultivated in New Zealand and Tasmania
as well.

As for why more people don't try to grow truffles in America, I would
say that is because most European varieties are found in calcareous
soils. Most American truffles have adapted to acidic soils. But there
are exceptions. Tuber lyonii, for example, was first named for Lyons,
France. It is more common in America, apparently, than in Europe.
Leucangium carthusiana is found in Spain (carthusiana = of the
Carthusian Mtns.). In Spain, the truffle in green, and is sometimes
called the Chartreuse truffle. In America the same fungus is black and
more closely resembles the French Black truffle.

Most attempts to grow European truffles in America have failed. The
vast majority of truffle orchards have produced no truffles to date.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

> in
oups.com:
|
| Franklin Garland was the first to cultivate French Black
| truffles (Tuber melanosporum) outside of Europe in 1992,
| I believe. Since then, French Black truffles have been
| cultivated in New Zealand and Tasmania as well.

I can't comment on that case, but as alluded to here in
, "Truffles: A few basics," people
were pursuing that prospect in the United States by 1980, when Agri-Truffe
of France published its literature in the US. Which I got at the time (I'm
looking at it as I write this). A little research however persuaded me that
the mycorrhized trees offered then were a long shot, and I declined to
invest. (Just as well, from the rest of the message above and other
information available now).

My father, in rural northern California, was accustomed then and later to
gathering sundry mushroom species in quantity and would ship his offspring
"care packages" of dried Cantharellus cibarius and Craterellus cantharellus
(so labeled, exactly) and make available further types, certain of which,
how shall I say, would test the nerve of many a knowledgeable wild-mushroom
fan.

-- Max

That's one reason (there are several others) that I don't try to grow
T. melanosporum, Max. Oddly, one of the few places in the United States
which has verified T. melanosporum production was in Northern
California near Ukiah. I had an opportunity to buy the site, complete
with some 17 producing truffle-inoculated hazel seedlings - but
declined.

Other US locations of plantations established with T. melanosporum
include Washington (Gary Menser inoculated some Douglas-fir near
Aberdeen, WA); Dripping Springs, TX (no word on whether the trees or
the truffles survived); Franklin Garland in North Carolina (all of his
truffle-inoculated oak seedlings died); and Ukiah, Oregon (I have heard
that truffle fruiting took place, but have no particulars on production
or for how long).

Originally, it was thought that production might take as long as 12
years after planting the seedling trees. But Dr. James Trappe revised
his estimation of production after hearing how quickly truffles began
fruiting for me after inoculation at Paul Bishop's Tree Farm (near
Oregon City, Oregon in 1992). He has since stated it may only take 3
years to begin truffle production. It would be _very_ interesting to
learn if anyone who had actually started a truffle plantation in 1980
still had any live trees, and whether any of them are/were/continue to
produce truffles at this time.

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com