Earlier in the month Dr Thomas was in Napa Valley, California, presenting at the third Annual Napa Truffle Festival. Again the event was sold out and a triumphant success with the festival highlight being a truffle feast prepared by a number of Michelin starred chefs. You can see an overview of the festival in the link below: www.starkinsider.com/2013/01/truffles-in-america-napa-truffle-festival-v… MSL are hoping to bring a similar festival to the UK, and updates will follow in the Newsletter.

The Daily Mail (14th October 1012) managed to pick up on this story before us, but we liked it so much we thought we would share it with you…When Nellie the English bull terrier kept digging up the back garden, her owners were not best pleased. But it turned out Nellie wasn’t just enjoying a little meaningless destruction – she was busy discovering a gold mine. The couple were astonished to find their dog had unearthed a stash of valuable black summer truffles. Nellie has been finding truffles for the past six years – uncovering 500 grams of the fungi this year alone.

The prime tree planting time of November – March is now upon us. Traditionally, November to March are the best months to plant, as the trees are dormant and planting in the winter allows the truffley-roots plenty of time to settle in before mycorrhiza and root-growth starts again in spring.

The third annual Napa Truffle Festival is rapidly approaching and will again showcase the revered black winter Périgord truffle: Tuber melanosporum, while bringing together a unique gathering of leading truffle cultivation experts and scientists, special guests from the food and wine world, and internationally-renowned Michelin Star chefs to discuss, examine, probe, prepare, demonstrate and, finally, pair truffles with wines to feast upon for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Despite producing truffles on some very young trees this year, there are still many plantations out there that are well managed but are virgin territory for the truffle dogs. Some of these sites are in their 5th year and could well be producing truffles right now, but we need some trained dogs to help us find them.

Rapper Jay-Z recently spent an incredible €15,000 on three kilos of white truffles while on holiday in Italy. Will demand soar further thanks to such a ringing endorsement from the King of Bling himself? The rapper has a reputation for making, and breaking, other luxury brands. As far as we are concerned, anything that brings truffle awareness to the masses can only be a good thing.

Planting a truffle wood in the UK currently qualifies for a huge grant of up to £4,800 per hectare and annual maintenance payments for 15 years. However, grants are being reduced after this coming planting season, so now is the time to get started. If you are interested in creating a truffle plantation please contact us at invest@plantationsystems.com or Tel: 01422 844095. We will send you a free information pack and provide a free soil test to assess the suitability of the potential site.

The 4th international conference on Tuber aestivum syn. uncinatum, was held at the end of September in Budapest, Hungary. The conference includes two full days of lectures from top truffle scientists from around the world, including Dr. Paul Thomas. Paul presented some of our latest research about the importance of the relationship between pH levels and mycorrhiza coverage utilizing far larger data sets than have ever been published. Also on the agenda were meetings to discuss the truffle industry and potential legislation.

Every chef has a tale of things gone awry, a kitchen incident they would rather forget. But when asked, most chefs have no hesitation recounting their difficult moments on the job.