Truffles are the wave of the future...Foodies wax ecstatic over truffles. The late food writer Josh Ozersky described their aroma as “a combination of newly plowed soil, fall rain, burrowing earthworms, and the pungent memory of lost youth and old love affairs.” A few slices shaved over a dish can turn the ordinary into the [...]
In May, Sebastian Kraves, a molecular neurobiologist, was invited to give a TED Talk about the miniPCR DNA Discovery System that they developed. The article about this was published in the TED home page in September and features American Truffle Company's Chief Scientist Dr. Paul Thomas' work. Figure 1-5. Dr. Paul Thomas holding the first [...]
Margherita Taylor of the BBC charts the progress of Dr. Paul Thomas' black truffle cultivation success from the Dragon's Den award of £75,000 to the successful first harvest in the UK 12 years later. The feature covers a bit of the history, pricing and method of cultivating fresh truffles, plus follows Freddy the truffle dog [...]
38g truffle - as the first Welsh-farmed truffle, it’s priceless! After years of patient oversight, the first Welsh-farmed black truffle has just been harvested in southern Wales by an extremely excited grower; “I still can’t believe it, I’m over the moon!” Wishing to remain anonymous so that the location will be kept secret, the Welsh [...]
Debby Zygielbaum, vineyard/orchard manager of Robert Sinskey Vineyards, in the RSV Truffle Orchard with Robert Chang and Dr. Paul Thomas. Here at American Truffle Company, we are big proponents of data and monitoring. Our orchards undergo regular testing to assess the health and well being of the trees, soil and, of course, the truffle fungus. [...]
One of the first questions that a potential grower asks is if their land is located in a suitable climatic zone for growing truffles. In response, we've created the world's first interactive truffle climate map for North America, which we've posted on the American Truffle Company website. The map does not answer the general question [...]
Changes to climatic variables across the world are evidenced from a large range of sources, including climate station logging by humans. Future predictions for climate change are variable and complex; however, there is broad agreement for the direction of impacts for many areas. We at American Truffle Company are often asked the question ‘how will [...]
Spore mats are an intriguing phenomena. For certain fungi, they may be quite visible as dense mats of fungi in the ground that produce spores. Spores are, of course, the seeds of a fungus and those that are found on spore mats are often mitospores, whereas those that form from a fruiting body, such as [...]
During our recent trek Down Under, Dr. Paul Thomas and I spent time in Manjimup Western Australia researching and foraging for black European truffles—the very same black diamonds that ATC cultivates with our truffle partners here in North America. Our time there was educational and exhilarating. See Dr. Thomas' July blog for insights about the [...]
Last month, Robert Chang and I visited Western Australia to explore several facets of their native truffle industry. While there, I was particularly keen to look at the issues many orchards are having with truffle rot. Despite the fact that some plantations in Western Australia produce very good yields, there has been a localized problem [...]
Despite the traditional focus by truffle cultivation researchers and practitioners on site selection and in-field methodologies, it is a new genetic understanding that represents a new frontier. In 2010 the genome of Tuber melanosporum (black European truffles), the world’s most commercially valuable cultivatable truffle species and the focus of American Truffle Company's ongoing research and [...]
Growing truffles isn't just about keeping the truffle-fungi happy, it’s also about making sure the host tree is in good condition. The truffle relies on the living host tree for its own survival and, if we want to produce truffles, this needs to be a healthy partnership. As we’re heading towards the end of May, [...]
