The world’s most coveted and expensive edible may be coming to a vineyard near you, thanks in part to the American Truffle Company, a business that is introducing the science of truffle cultivation to the wine world. Unbeknownst to many, truffles can be coaxed to grow beneath young oak and hazel trees, whose roots have been inoculated with Tuber melanosporum/aestivum, the truffle fungus. In fact, 95% of the winter Perigord truffles from France are sourced from inoculated trees.

After a recent surge of interest for this species of truffle, with more details in our recent article – https://plantationsystems.com/desert-truffles – MSL are happy to announce that shrubs inoculated with the desert truffle (Terfezia boudieri) are now available.

Desert truffles (Tefezia spp) are distinct from the high value European truffle species but still have a large market place for their culinary use. At prices roughly 1/10th of the European truffles they are also highly accessible.

Truffle trees are trees that host the truffle fungus on their root system. In order to create truffle trees a source of identified fungal material is needed. This source can be either cultured fungi or, more commonly, the spores of the truffle fungus. The primary source for truffle spores, for Tuber melanosporum, Tuber aestivum syn uncinatum and others is the truffle (known as the fruiting body) itself.