A farmer’s nine-year mission to cultivate a rare delicacy is finally accomplished.
Truffles are elusive underground mushrooms that have a symbiotic relationship with the roots of trees. The edible and rare varieties have an amazing taste and are prized by gourmands around the world.Truffles are one of the most expensive agricultural products in the world and cultivation is a
profitable business.
The black diamond truffle (Tuber melanosporum) sells for over €1000 (
+-R13,400) per kilogram, second to the winter white truffle (Tuber magnatum) typically goes for over €4000 (+-R53,600) per kilogram.Last month, a large white truffle from Italy sold for $61,250 (+-R706,800) at an
auction in New York.
The first South African black diamond truffleFarmer, Cameron Anderson, 34, first became interested in truffle cultivation during a trip to New Zealand. Near Dullstroom in Mpumalanga, Anderson has a plantation of 500 oak trees. He had been trying, unsuccessfully, for nine seasons, but finally, his efforts are starting to pay off.
Truffle farming in South Africa
Wild truffles have previously been found in South Africa but the dream for commercial production only started ten years ago. South Africa is targeting black truffles, the second most valuable species, for the future.
Leon Potgieter, mycologist and co-owner of
African Truffles, considers South Africa’s soils and climates more suitable than those of Europe for truffle orchards, and is confident that the industry will boom.
Potgieter, 37, believes discretion and modesty will be called for when keeping orchards of valuable fungi in South Africa, as
truffle crimes are very real.
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