Cultivating Truffles in California

In 1987, the first truffle grown in North America was harvested in Mendocino County. Since then, many other attempts have been made.

Truffles, which are native to Europe, fetch prices higher than cannabis at its peak. Most recently, an Alexander Valley family’s trained truffle-sniffing dog placed its paw under a hazelnut bush inoculated with truffle spores as a seedling and fulfilled the family’s nine-year ambition. That story is told here.

On their website, The Alexander Valley Truffle Company credits an Oregonian nursery, New World Truffieres, with producing their starts. NWT’s website lists the coastline of the Pacific Northwest among a handful of regions worldwide that have a satisfactory climate for growing truffles outside of southern Europe.

Truffles are as difficult to grow as they are delectable, or else they wouldn’t be so expensive. NWT explains how to do it on their website. But with the right combination of microclimate, patience, money and hard work, they represent a viable alternative to the depressed California cannabis economy.