This weekend will be held the second edition of the Melbourne Truffle Festival at The Centre Ivanhoe.
It looks terrific and I can even smell those truffle dishes from the distance 🙂 What a pitty I could not join you in person, but at least I will be able to share a Skype lecture at the growers forum!
Good luck Nigel. All the rest, enjoy it!
Marcos S. Morcillo
We´ll be running a two morning growers workshop on IRTA research center, 25 minutes from Barcelona city, later in the week moving to Teruel region for two more nights, where there are more than 7.000 hectares of truffle orchards. We will be visiting big successful growers and analyze in situ the key factors to reach high yields (tractors and other machinery used, spanish wells, etc).
We will experience 2 truffle dinners (both with Micheline star), a terrific 10-course tasting menu in Can Jubany, the best chef for truffles in Catalonia! plus a farewell dinner at Hisop downtown Barcelona.
Most nights in spa hotels (like www.latrufanegra.com), although we´ll keep you busy, your will be able to enjoy some truistic visits as well.
Chat with traders to analyze truffle marketing and the supply-demand in the near future. We´ll visit the largest truffle trader in Spain who process 15 tons every year!
It includes one hour “private meetings” with each grower to discuss their project plus 3h later of consultancy once back home, see soil tests, management, to solve doubts, etc.
We do recommend leave at least 2-3 days for staying in Barcelona city as you will love it.
Join us in Barcelona! write an email to micologiaforestal@micofora.com
Policies on cancellations for the Barcelona Truffle Tour:
There is 10% discount for any booking made before 31st July.
To book the Tour a payment of 50% is done.
There is no financial penalty for cancellation 60 days before tour. 30 days before the tour there would only be a 50% refund.
50% left would be paid 2 weeks before the tour. From this date there would be no refund.
We encourage attendants to have a good travel insurance.
The answer is depending on hazel variety. Hazels are bushes that usually die far before than oaks. In Catalonia, where hazels are grown for centuries, some orchards with the same trees were kept on the ground for 3-4 generations. Traditionally hazels in Tarragona region were farmed for 60-100 years, with 3-4 regenerations, but nowadays, that hazel farming has sense just if nut yields are pretty high, most hazel varieties when hazel nut production start decreasing, are removed and new hazels planted.
Some varieties, like “peuetet” works until age 18 and “negret” until age 25, later branches dry up and get rotten. Then hazels usually produce new suckers or shoots that become dominant, but some varieties like “peuetet” although it will become a tree will never be so productive, usually producing nuts every two years. On the other hand, “negret” can be renewed from new shoots every 25 years and keep on producing good nut yields. We don´t know if they will work the same for truffles…
The following picture is a 26 years old “peuetet” getting dry:
In the top picture, at the left side you can see a “peuetet” variety of 26 years old, that will probably be removed next year to plant new hazels. At the right side a “negret” variety of 60 years old, that can easily live decades if you “renew” it, just allowing new shoots to become dominant and leave the main trunk to die naturally…
On the last picture you can see a “peuetet” orchard of 15 years old, at 6x4meters, at its highest production. From now on the nut yields will decrease in this variety.
Farmers allow trees to grow up first and when branches from each row start touching each other, mainly for the weight when they are full of nuts and keep that tunnel, that makes harvest easier.
Traditionally when hazels where produced from suckers, so at low cost, most farmers planted 2 trees together to fill faster the row and start producing nuts earlier, but now that hazels come from a more expensive in vitro varieties, just one is planted at this layout.
I know in several countries hazels have been and are still used for truffles with really good results, some of those orchards beyond 20 years old could start decreasing truffle production as more and more hazels could get too old. I would suggest to these growers to allow 2-3 new shoots to grow strong and the main trunk in 3-4 years will dry up naturally. Depending on the hazel variety the strength of the tree and so truffle fruiting will keep the same, but others will decrease or start to get random fruitings…
Cheers,
Marcos S. Morcillo
|
||||||||||||
|
This week I went to take root and soil samples to a peculiar truffle plantation in the Pyrinees, at 1200 m.o.s.l. The owner, Joan, who is just 30 years old, came to visit me to our lab 8 years ago, just finished his degree on forestry, eager to create a black truffle orchard mixed with medicinal and aromatic plants. Now his orchard looks like this:
With a mix of host trees, from ilex, pubescens, faginea and coccifera, the level of melanosporum infection is great, and a few coccifera just started to fruit last year.
He looked for earlier yields from the lavender plus Salvia plants (the ones blossoming now, as Lavender does it in the area in july). He uses Salvia to produce their own shampoo, sold out every season.
The value of lavender essence in organic farming increases the plant’s value considerably, weeding must be manual or with over 30 sheeps (like in Joan´s orchard) and controlled with plastic on the ground, which increases costs and reduces net profit.
In the third year, bee hives are brought in to make use of the lavender’s flowering spikes. Each year, the lavender is reaped for distillation and subsequent sale in the form of essential oil (with financial returns twice as high as barley and not dependent on Euro- pean subsidies). Producers are recommended to carry out their own distillation (in associations or cooperatives) to reduce the number of intermediaries and increase their profit margin.
This cultivation schedule is followed in places in Navarre.10-20 g of flowers are obtained per plant in the first year, 200-300 g in the second year and 600-800 g in the third year.The proportion of essence is between 1.5% and 2% of the flower weight. Thanks to sales of distilled essence of lavendin and honey, annual revenues in organic farming from the fourth year exceed €900 gross per hectare.
I found this related videos quite interesting as well:
http://www.givaudan.com/fragrances/explore-ingredients/innovative-naturals/lavender
Now that black truffles start to being formed and summer is coming, irrigation is a must in most areas.
The truffle is a fungus suited to low water conditions, as shown by its tolerance to dry spells in the summer of 25-28 days without rain, depending on the soil type. Poor soil that is dry and porous facilitates the development of the long, scarcely branching roots beneficial to truffles. This water stress, in turn, promotes the production of lignins and tannins, which can be used later by the truffle mycelium.
A comparison of the statistics of precipitation and truffle production shows there to be a correlation between good production and precipitation rates of the order of 150 millimetres between June and August. They also show that each stage of the truffle’s development has its own water needs:
− in the north hemisphere, between April and May, irrigation to maintain the soil’s water reserves is only necessary if the winter has been very dry. Too much rain in this period seems harmful to the formation of truffle primordia. Some studies note that a few dry weeks at the end of April are beneficial.
− June seems to be the most sensitive month, both in terms of absence and excess of water. If the soil is already damp, a mulch may be sufficient.Water requirements in July do not appear to be decisive in limiting truffle growth. A month of July without rain, and even up to the middle of August, does not seem to be harmful. If it rains in June mulching may be sufficient. Conversely, abundant watering (30-50 millimetres) is necessary after a dry June
− From mid-August to mid- September, statistics show irrigation to be indispensable if it has not rained. In this period there do not appear to be any problems due to excess water, so irrigation of 25-50 millimetres every 10-20 days would be suitable
− As of mid-September excess water does seems to affect the production of truffles. An excessively dry autumn may also delay the start of the season and result in a mediocre gathering season.
In a recent study of our own, in which we quantified the mycelium of black truffle with molecular techniques at 40cm and 100cm from the tree trunk, we found that at 40cm the quantity of mycelium was 8 mg/g of soil, but at 1 meter is was reduced 1000 times to 0,008 mg/g!
A dripping system in the early years, even it makes more efficient the use of water, favor the truffle mycelium to remain in the bag moisture under drip and not to expand. A practical example would be to install in the first years micro sprinklers with variable flow rate and diameter, will aim of favoring the truffle mycelium to expand rapidly in the soil. Over the years we can move to other sprinklers of 35 l / h, with a diameter of 4 m ( in high density plantations ) , at doses of 6 hours every 10 days. The water and soil receives is about 16 l / m2. After 5-7 days looked soil moisture and if it is below 8 cm of the surface, back to water again.
Cheers,
Marcos S. Morcillo
Last year (season 2013-14) Spain produced over 45 Tons of black truffles, and although we expected a great season, in the last one (2014-15) the production was lower, around 35-38 Tons all over Spain. Specially some areas like Teruel, yields from orchards were lower than estimated. Although more and more irrigation is installed, it is clear that water is not the only issue.
Why prices change so much during the season?
At the beginning of each season prices are low, justified by the low aroma and quality of the first truffles, but this helps to create demand. On Christmas prices reach its higher threshold to decrease suddenly for two main reasons: higher prices reduce demand and most Micheline start restaurants take their holidays in mid january. In February quality of the truffle is at its best and so most traders are willing to buy truffles for processing and canning to have stock for the whole year, so demand and prices raise.
There are mainly three categories for fresh truffles:
In each category there are subcategories for sizes, i.e. over 20, 50, 80 grams. Truffles over 200 grams are sold at the same price than Pieces as they are harder to sell.
At the beginning of the season a trader sells around 30% of all the truffle in fresh, while at late season it raises up to 50-60%.Truffles not sold in fresh are processed and autoclaved for “industrial line”. In the future, part of these autoclaved truffles used for restaurants and supermarkets will disappear, because when truffieres from the southern hemisphere will increase their yields, fresh truffles will be available all year.
BTW, in 5 weeks truffle season will start down under , let´s see how it goes…Good luck aussie growers 😉
Cheers,
Marcos S. Morcillo
Tuber brumale, the winter truffle, is protected in Spain by the same regional regulations that apply to the black truffle, with a gathering season that runs from 15 November to 15 March (in some areas it begins on 1 December).
Winter truffles represent a very small proportion of the truffles sold in Europe, with probably no more than 1000-2000 kg/yr being gathered at present. In Spain, the amount gathered each year is probably around 300-400 kg, and the price paid to the gatherer (the truffles being dirty) is between €100 and €150/kg.
This truffle is found above all in some areas in north-east Spain, where a lot of hazelnuts are cultivated (Maestrazgo in Castellón province, Prades and Vandellós in Tarragona province, and Vallés in Barcelona province, have more than 15,000 hectares of hazels, where both winter and black truffles fruit naturally). In these areas the price per kilogram paid to gatherers tends to be lower because their truffles are mixed with the T. brumale variety. In recent years, with thousands of hectares being abandoned because the hazel is not very profitable and as the methods of cultivating it have changed (use of pesticides, little or no tillage), the soil is becoming compacted and there are fewer and fewer T. brumale to be found.
Most T. brumale, like T. aestivum and T. mesentericum, go to make conserves and to the food industry.
How to avoid confusing T. brumale with T. melanosporum?
T. brumale is often confused with melanosporum, the two usually being mixed in batches.To differentiate between them we can look at the peridium, which, apart from coming off easily in brumale, is black, as opposed to dark brown in melanosporum.
The gleba colour is grey black when brumale is mature, darker than in melanosporum, which is a purple black.The veins in brumale glebae are generally long and few in number.
With the microscope it is even easier to distinguish them, the spores in brumale being smaller and more numerous in each ascus (5 on aver- age in brumale, 3-4 in melanosporum), and light brown or translucent, while in melanosporum they are darker or even opaque.This fact allows the degree of maturity of truffles to be checked when used as an inoculum, since melanosporum spores remain translucent in truffles that are not yet mature. Spikelets on brumale spores are longer and thinner than on melanosporum spores.
It´s a pity that this truffle is already fruiting in several orchards all around Europe and in Australia and New Zealand, as it is quite simple to detect the fruit bodies used for inoculum.
The brumale’s greater or lesser musk aroma is a very subjective criterion and varies according to soils and organic matter.
Cheers,
Marcos S. Morcillo
Truffle Farming Today Cover & back cover
I´m happy today as we finally start printing our new book 🙂
It has been a long walk, but as Moliere said “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.”
When you write a book, you are never happy with the result and review and review so many times the layouts, modifying so many small things. But at some point we need to say: stop, and send it to print. So we did. Some of you may now the other personal reasons that have delayed this edition ´til today – thanks for your support 😉 –
This book has as its origins in one we wrote for the Regional Government of Andalusia in 2007. This edition updates and expands on the previous book, using the results of 8 years’ research by us and by other authors and incorporating new collaborators. It compares the ‘future’ as we saw it then with up to date observations.
In the preface to the previous edition we said that the truffle could be an important resource to helping slow depopulation in depressed areas.And so it has proved (the Teruel region providing perhaps the best example). Furthermore, countries like Australia – situated at the opposite extreme both geographically and in terms of the composition of the soils in which truffle trees are being planted – are reaping big benefits.
Regarding the traditional organic farming model that we proposed in 2007, we observe that this has largely been superseded by new techniques, designs and management methods tested in farms over recent years.As discussed in detail, significant changes to the farming model are now being seen – for example, well developed trees can now enter into production at an early age on suitably modified acid but fertile soils.
What still seems valid is that each area has its own individual parameters and requires a management model tailored to these specific conditions. Our aim in this book is to provide as much information as possible to assist individual truffle farmers in gaining an understanding of truffle culture and the options for managing their own plantations.
We would like to say how grateful we are to everyone involved in this edition, who helped us improving the text, translation to english and layout. Thanks to all the truffle hunters and truffle farmers, without whose help it would not be possible for truffle farming to move forward.We hope that when they read this book they will feel they are getting something back, in the form of useful information for improving their harvests, in return for all the resources, experience and time they have offered to us.
The new book will be available in 6 weeks time, and in coming posts I will give you more data about it and, of course, how to get it.
Cheers,
Marcos S. Morcillo
 | gaelkennedy on Create truffle harvest product… |
 | Steve Unverzagt on Is regenerative truffle farmin… |
 | trufflefarming on Truffle Growing in México |
 | Jane Ferguson on Truffle Growing in México |
| trufflefarming on How black truffle 2023-2024 se… |
| gaelkennedy on Create truffle harvest product… |
| Steve Unverzagt on Is regenerative truffle farmin… |
| trufflefarming on Truffle Growing in México |
| Jane Ferguson on Truffle Growing in México |
| trufflefarming on How black truffle 2023-2024 se… |
trufflefarming 