Possibly stupid question about truffles.

 england.rec.gardening    Post an article   get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content add this group's latest topics to your Google content
Subject Author Date
Possibly stupid question about truffles. Richard Brooks 09-14-2007
Posted by Richard Brooks on September 14, 2007, 2:23 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Has anyone found a truffle in their back garden?

My back garden in Cowley, Oxford is not so much a garden as more a
wildlife haven/orchard with the soil where I dug the thing up (under the
shade of hazel nut trees), not touched or chemically treated in any way
in over twenty years.

I thought that maybe it was the inner flesh of a Horse chestnut (Castanea P. Mill.) and if
those have a nice smell almost like you'd smell in Chinese cooking a bit
like roasted soy sauce then that's what it must have been.

When cut, it does have the marbling of this thing but the outside was a
smoother, more uniform creamy colour.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_(genus)#White_truffle>

It's been sitting in a polythene bag so dried out somewhat but this
thing has been puzzling me for a few weeks.

I can't believe that you'd find them in people's back gardens, let alone
in Cowley in Oxford!

Posted by Bob Hobden on September 15, 2007, 12:37 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options

"Richard Brooks" wrote ...
> Has anyone found a truffle in their back garden?
>
> My back garden in Cowley, Oxford is not so much a garden as more a
> wildlife haven/orchard with the soil where I dug the thing up (under the
> shade of hazel nut trees), not touched or chemically treated in any way in
> over twenty years.
>
> I thought that maybe it was the inner flesh of a Horse chestnut (Castanea P. Mill.) and if
> those have a nice smell almost like you'd smell in Chinese cooking a bit
> like roasted soy sauce then that's what it must have been.
>
> When cut, it does have the marbling of this thing but the outside was a
> smoother, more uniform creamy colour.
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_(genus)#White_truffle>
>
> It's been sitting in a polythene bag so dried out somewhat but this thing
> has been puzzling me for a few weeks.
>
> I can't believe that you'd find them in people's back gardens, let alone
> in Cowley in Oxford!

Richard, did you buy any of the trees in your back garden when they were
largish? If so they probably came from Italy where they have tree specialist
nurseries and the truffle came with it on the roots.
Worth a lot of money too.
May be worth re-posting on uk.rec.gardening and/or uk.rec.natural-history.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden



Posted by Richard Brooks on September 15, 2007, 2:11 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Bob Hobden said the following on 15/09/2007 17:37:
> "Richard Brooks" wrote ...
>> Has anyone found a truffle in their back garden?
>>
>> My back garden in Cowley, Oxford is not so much a garden as more a
>> wildlife haven/orchard with the soil where I dug the thing up (under the
>> shade of hazel nut trees), not touched or chemically treated in any way in
>> over twenty years.
>>
>> I thought that maybe it was the inner flesh of a Horse chestnut and if
>> those have a nice smell almost like you'd smell in Chinese cooking a bit
>> like roasted soy sauce then that's what it must have been.
>>
>> When cut, it does have the marbling of this thing but the outside was a
>> smoother, more uniform creamy colour.
>>
>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_(genus)#White_truffle>
>>
>> It's been sitting in a polythene bag so dried out somewhat but this thing
>> has been puzzling me for a few weeks.
>>
>> I can't believe that you'd find them in people's back gardens, let alone
>> in Cowley in Oxford!
>
> Richard, did you buy any of the trees in your back garden when they were
> largish? If so they probably came from Italy where they have tree specialist
> nurseries and the truffle came with it on the roots.

I did get them as small trees about 2metres tall and I think it was
Yarnton Nurseries just north of Oxford.

Really thinking it was a conker I just took it indoors and put it in a
polythene bag - where it has dried out!

> Worth a lot of money too.
> May be worth re-posting on uk.rec.gardening and/or uk.rec.natural-history.

I did a keyword search on 'garden' in my Usenet groups list but didn't
find a uk group but I shall search again.

Many thanks for you help.

Posted by Richard Brooks on September 16, 2007, 11:42 am
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Bob Hobden said the following on 15/09/2007 17:37:
> Richard, did you buy any of the trees in your back garden when they were
> largish? If so they probably came from Italy where they have tree specialist
> nurseries and the truffle came with it on the roots.
> Worth a lot of money too.
> May be worth re-posting on uk.rec.gardening and/or uk.rec.natural-history.

Hi Bob,

I'll post this to uk.rec.gardening (if they have the time!) and
uk.rec.natural-history.

<http://www.kdbanglia.com/whatarethey.htm>


Posted by on October 28, 2007, 7:49 am
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
On Sep 14, 6:23 pm, Richard Brooks <richardbro...@vickers-
supermarine.com> wrote:
> Has anyone found a truffle in their back garden?
> My back garden in Cowley, Oxford is not so much a garden as more a
> wildlife haven/orchard with the soil where I dug the thing up (under the
> shade of hazel nut trees), not touched or chemically treated in any way
> in over twenty years.
(snip)
> I can't believe that you'd find them in people's back gardens, let alone
> in Cowley in Oxford!

Off course you can find truffles in England - and the fact that your
garden has been untouched by chemicals and disturbances in some parts
for over 20 years is beneficial to the truffles. Finds have been
recorded as far as Darlington and south of Oxford is a prime place to
find them. Check this link below and contact them. I'm from Perigueux
in the Dordogne and grew up on the stuff. I've found hundreds as a kid
and never thought they were 'rare'. It's just a matter of looking and
also a matter of unspoilt areas. It has nothing to do with bare root
trees from Italy but the perfect environment for myccrhorizals to grow
on undisturbed dead matters and form a relationship with roots from,
usually, oak trees. I've also found ceps near places we found
truffles. This summer I've found a cep growing at the foot of a young
oak tree, at the centre of coiled hose pipe! That was very unusual :o)

http://www.truffle-uk.co.uk/TO_GI.php


Similar ThreadsPosted
truffles November 10, 2007, 10:00 am
question about the weather, anyone? August 3, 2008, 2:05 pm

The site map in XML format XML site map
Contact Us | Privacy Policy