Hello and welcome As the European (Tuber melanosporum) truffle season draws to a close, prices in the wholesale markets reached €1,350/kg, with distributors charging even more! This year's prices have been forced upwards by poor weather across Europe damaging yields, but this doesn't seem to have impacted on truffle use, with truffle-themed menus and recipes abounding. As we head into March, the winter truffle season is officially over, but there is still plenty going on in the fungi world. This month's updates include a charitable element, an update on media articles and a review of a truffle presentation at the San Francisco Mycological Society. Finally, this month also brings with it the first bottles of a delicious new vodka, Black Moth, infused with delectable black truffles. With the high prices currently being commanded for truffles, this could be the best way of sampling them. More details are below. For now, enjoy the updates and feel free to get in contact with any questions or comments.
Kind regards,
Dr Paul Thomas and the Mycorrhizal Systems Team
This month's media articles and new truffle systems
This month has seen several good length media articles on truffles, from a two page spread in Home Farmer magazine, providing guidance on how you can grow truffles at home, to a Country View supplement with a good update on MSL. The latter article can be viewed here: http://tiny.cc/truffle706. Also, throughout March, look out for the Kitchen Gardener magazine article, which will also contain a discount code for buying truffle trees online! After being contacted by a County View reader, we also began to look into the feasibility of combining truffle cultivation with outdoor chicken rearing. It seems that the two can combine to create a mutually beneficial system, with the chicken faeces providing valuable nutrition in some circumstances. Where trees are planted to provide habitat enrichment, it makes sense to earn a commercial return from the planting if possible - and truffle cultivation could be ideal. For further information please get in contact: Shop@PlantationSystems.com or +44(0)1433 659 167
Truffles and charity (school and mayors ball)
Our free Trees for School campaign got off to a good start this month, with St Mary and St Peter's Church of England Primary School, Barrington and Ilton in Hampshire taking delivery of free hazel trees provided by MSL. Head teacher Karen Brooker was very pleased to receive their trees for the launch of their conservation project. There are more trees available, so if your school has a planting project let us know and we may be able to send you some free stock. In February, MSL also contributed to the Sheffield Lord Mayor's Charity Dinner, organized by city councillor Ray Satur. We provided several free truffle trees to be auctioned to raise money for the charity, although it turned out that Ray had other plans. Ray has now organized for the donated trees to be planted by the Friends of the Botanical Gardens of behalf of the charity, with harvested truffles to be sold and the money reinvested into the Botanical Gardens and the Lord Mayor's Charity. A fitting use of the gifted trees. You can read more about this article here: http://tiny.cc/truffle1247
Robert Chang speaks at the San Francisco Mycological Society
In February, our very own Robert Chang (Managing Director of our arm in America: American Truffle Company) was invited as the feature speaker for the San Francisco Mycological Society's General Meeting. The talk was well received - attendance was three times the usual level of other past general meetings. Questions and answers lasted for more than half an hour, and only ended as the museum had to close. Robert spoke about all things truffle - starting with a brief discussion on natural habitats and the state of truffle supply/demand worldwide, to cooking with truffles, to the reality behind truffle oils. The bulk of the talk was on the science of truffle cultivation, with focus on important factors that determine cultivation success. Robert also touched upon the unique ways ATC and Mycorrhizal Systems have been able to gather, analyze and mine their substantial amount of field data, which forms the basis of ATC and Mycorrhizal Systems' ever-improving scientific methodologies and best practices, in addition to continued ongoing research in the laboratory. The mycological society in Los Angeles must have heard about this popular talk, as Robert has just been invited to be the feature speaker in March for the Los Angeles Mycological Society, at the Museum of Natural History there. We will keep you posted in the next newsletter about Robert's talk in Los Angeles. For more information on ATC or our activities in America, please do get in contact on Info@americantruffle.com or +1 408 930 0682.
VODKA - the natural way to taste truffles?
Excitingly, this month also sees the very first bottles of the world's first all natural, truffle infused vodka go on sale. The vodka, branded Black Moth, is created with the world's finest black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) and is truly delicious. Made from grain, Black Moth has a warm and mellow taste, perfectly complementing the wonderful flavour of the black P€rigord truffle. Infamous for its rich, earthy aroma and distinct taste, the P€rigord truffle lends tangible hints of freshly dug earth and spice, creating the inimitable flavor of Black Moth. We've tried the vodka, and it's incredibly sumptuous. It's also about time that a natural truffle product arrived on the market. As discussed previously in this newsletter, most truffle oils and their products are flavored with a synthetic and chemical flavor often listed as 'truffle aroma'. Black Moth not only tastes great when drunk straight or in a cocktail, but it can also be used to flavor dishes as a natural alternative to many 'synthetic' products. We like it so much that here at MSL, we may have to open a Black Moth account! More information and the online shop can be found on the Black Moth website at: www.blackmothvodka.com