Truffles, an expensive addition to gourmet dishes, are almost impossible to cultivate.
Truffles are the very expensive flower of the mycorrhizal fungi, noted New World Truffieres. As of 2011, these delicacies are selling for for as high as $1,000 to $3,000 per pound, depending on the type. They are so sought after because of their flavor and their scarcity. Because they mostly are harvested in the wild and grow only at certain locations -- mainly at the base of oak and hazelnut trees and some pines -- they are quite rare. To grow truffles, the cultivator will need "truffle trees" and a lot of time and luck. A truffle-sniffing dog is helpful, too.
Instructions
1. Purchase inoculated seedlings (small trees) of oak or hazelnut trees from a trusted online truffle tree nursery or -- if you are lucky enough -- from a local truffle tree nursery, as the fungi only can grow by attaching themselves to tree roots. Truffles develop underground "in a symbiotic association with the roots of trees," noted New World Truffieres. Seedlings usually are inoculated by dipping the bare root into a fungal solution just before planting.
2. Water the seedlings in the original pots they arrived in.
3. Dig holes that are just a bit deeper than the size of the pots the trees arrived in. The land should be free of other trees, and the soil is best at a high pH (7.3 to 8.3), recommends Mycorrhizal Systems, an online truffle tree grower.
4. Remove the seedlings from the original containers, keeping the soil intact, and drop them into the dug holes. Gently pack dirt around them. Plant seedlings -- preferably in early fall -- in close proximity to one another. Often 500 trees are planted per acre, according to GarlandTruffles.com.
5. Water the plants until well established and then wait several years for the truffles to grow. It can take anywhere from four to 10 years for truffles to appear, depending on the tree, the soil and the general conditions. The truffles will grow under the tree wherever the tree roots have spread.
6. Purchase or rent a trained fungi-sniffing dog, from a "working dog kennel," which will locate truffles if they have begun to grow under the earth's surface. Trained truffle dogs will only sniff out mature truffles, ready for harvest. The truffles put off an aroma, pleasing to the animal. Working dog kennels raise and train dogs for various specialized duties, such as sniffing out drugs, disaster victims, bed bugs and truffles.
7. Allow the dog to dig at the truffles, only to locate them, then chop the truffles away from the main fungi with a machette. In the wild, as animals dig at truffles, their spores are spread, naturally cultivating the species.
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