About this episode
Irina Zhorov explores the emerging truffle production industry in the U.S., focusing on the South as a new hub.
In “Sniffing Out American Truffles,” Gravy reporter Irina Zhorov explores truffle production in the U.S.—and how the South is emerging as a hub. Truffle production in the U.S. is a young industry. Commercial cultivation started in the 1980s. Truffles are a complicated business. When you’re farming truffles, what you’re really growing is trees. The truffles are fungi that grow on tree roots. The tree and the fungi work synergistically, the tree providing sugars to the fungi for nourishment and the fungi helping the roots reach further into the soil to absorb more nutrients. For this relationship to work well, and for truffles to flourish, the type of tree and fungi must be a good match, the soil ought to be of sufficiently high pH, and weather and moisture need to be suitable. Europeans, particularly in Italy and France, figured out the formula to make this complex system function. Truffle orchards once abounded on the continent. World Wars I and II, as well as changing land use, destroyed many of those operations, but the industry there is still established. When American farmers began to seed their truffle orchards, most of them imported European truffle varieties on European…
People in this episode
Host: Irina Zhorov
Topics covered
- truffle production
- agriculture
- Southern food
- fungi
- tree cultivation
Keywords
- truffles
- North Carolina
- agriculture
- fungi
- tree roots
- commercial cultivation
- European truffles
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Southern Foodways Alliance
Places: North Carolina, U.S., Italy, France
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