Truffles from Wales | The famously difficult-to-cultivate delicacy may now be easier to grow outside of its natural habitat
A British scientist may have unlocked the key to farming expensive truffles, the famously difficult-to-cultivate delicacy may now be easier to grow outside of its natural habitat. The summer truffles or otherwise known as Burgundy truffles (Tuber Aestivum / Uncinatum) and winter truffles (Tuber Melanosporum) otherwise known as Perigord Truffles are grown by the Welsh Truffle Company. We would love to taste these truffles from Wales!
Truffles from Wales | The Welsh Truffle Company
The first crop of summer truffles were found in 2016 at the farm Monkswood, located on the Monmouthshire / Torfaen border. Truffles grown at the farm of Matt Sims are extremely high in perfume and flavour probably due to the high concentrations of Iron / copper / magnesium / zinc / manganese in the soils out there. Monmouthshire was the powerhouse of iron production during the industrial revolution and Newport and Cardiff docks were some of the busiest ports in the world. The first hazel and Mediterranean oak trees were planted in 2008 at Matt Sims 11 acres. He works with researcher Paul Thomas (he has been studying truffles in the lab for years) who helped him to plant 5,000 trees inoculated with spores and then they treated the surrounding soil with lime to make it less acidic.
The Welsh Truffle Company currently supplies up market restaurants and eatery’s all over Wales and the UK. Their webshop is getting busier day by day and online sales are forming an important part of their business. They were the first to cultivate the summer truffle in Wales and the first to cultivate the winter perigord truffle in the United Kingdom. If you want to know more about the tale behind the truffles from Wales, an interesting read is an article at the Telegraph: The Welsh farm growing one of the world’s rarest delicacies – the Perigord truffle.
Website: Welsh Truffles
