Dr Paul Thomas (our managing director) has appeared on several TV programmes, radio shows and in many written articles. Specific areas of expertise include entrepreneurship and the biology, cultivation, hunting and cooking methods of the wide range of truffle species.
Dr Thomas also has many years of expertise in collecting and cooking a vast range of unusual edible fungi. These range from those the size and shape of footballs to the glow-in-the-dark and unusually flavoured, including aniseed and apricots.
If you would like an interview or require an expert/presenter for features and articles then please contact Dr Thomas – Paul@PlantationSystems.com
In rural Hampshire, our expert dog trainer Marion Dean has been busy crafting a new resource for would-be truffle hunters and farmers alike. Compiled from footage taken throughout 2009, the DVD aims to show how much care must be taken when harvesting truffles to prevent any damage to the valuable fungi, their mycorrhizal growth and the trees supporting them. With plenty of footage of truffle harvesting, you can also gain an insight into Marion's style of teaching.
Anosmia is a condition that hampers the sufferer’s sense of taste. Whilst total anosmia is extremely rare, partial anosmia, the inability to taste a small number of specific flavours, is actually quite common. Amazingly, up to 30% of the population cannot detect androstenone, which is one of the chemicals used in scent-based truffle hunting. There are a whole host of factors that contribute to the truffle scent, so even if you can’t detect androstenone you can still enjoy truffles, but it does perhaps help to explain why peoples’ interpretation of the truffle does tend to vary.
Our first Newspaper article of 2010 appeared in the Telegraph business supplement and can be read by clicking here. Several more truffle-based articles are being prepared for publication and we will be displaying details here and in the newsletter.
The 27th of January is an important date for your diary as we’ll be exhibiting at the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA), the Farm and More Farm Diversification show 2010. Based in Shropshire (UK) the show is focused on diversification in farming. Come along and visit us on-site to find out more about truffle farming and how you can get involved with our partnership programme. Also, remember that we operate internationally so no matter where you are based, come along for a chat about the possibilities of growing truffles in your area.
December saw Forbes compile a list of the 11 most extravagant meals. Truffles featured three times, with a White Truffle Dinner at Les Amis (Singapore) coming fourth, at 800USD per person, not including wine! In fifth place was the 5,000USD burger by Fleur de Lys chef Hubert Keller (Las Vegas) featuring kobe beef, foie gras and truffles. Finally, in ninth place was the Chef's Table at L'Espadon Paris with a menu that includes “cappuccino-style" mashed potatoes, which featured truffles and cocoa.
- The 11th Global Alba Truffle Auction was recently held in the small town of Grinzane Cavour near Alba, Italy. Private-equity investor Joseph Bae, of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Hong Kong, set his sights on an exquisite Alba Truffle. This particular truffle weighed in at 750gms (1lb 10oz) and was eventually bought by Mr Bae for a princely sum of 1 million Hong Kong Dollars, or £90,000.
This month we’re excited to be presenting our research at the First European Conference on the “European” Truffle Tuber aestivum/uncinatum.
Hosted at the Biodiversity Center of the University of Vienna, this is a small gathering of scientists that we hope will strengthen in numbers with each meeting.Location, location, location. The timeless advice on buying property can also be linked to truffle cultivation. Here at Mycorrhizal Systems we believe seed provenance to be really quite important. Many of our new plantations are started with a proportion of the planting stock grown from locally sourced seed. An example of this is our plantings in Baltic countries. The majority of the plantations are still planted with seed that we have tried-and-tested and proven to be an excellent host, but the percentage produced with attention to provenance is important for a number of reasons.
Several wild borchii truffles were found in Finland only recently after a scientific survey. The small quantity previously reported may not be indicative of the country’s wild-harvest potential as a recent article in the Helsingin Sanomat (international edition) proves. With the increase of truffle interest in the Finnish media, truffle awareness has grown and so too have truffle finds.
The prestige and price is a constant carrot to encourage many would-be truffle hunters and we’re often sent pictures of finds from around the world. Very rarely do these turn out to be actual edible
truffles, so it is always wise to get your haul identified. Truffles are generally quite a distinctive group of fungi, but the promise of something very special can lead people to convince themselves that what they’ve found is actually more truffle-like than it really is. The number one fungi mistaken for truffles are earth balls ( Scleroderma
