At $3000 a kilogram, white truffles are a true gourmet delight. Now a team from Plant and Food Research have come up with a way to cultivate the delicacy on pine tree roots, and they say forestry owners could do the same, adding another stream of income to their business.

Deep in a Canterbury pine plantation, scientist Alexis Guerin is hunting for white truffles, a fungus that could one day transform pine plantations all over the country.

Scientists at Plant and Food Research planted the white truffle-infused pine seedlings 10 years ago and, with the help of truffle-hunting dog Ace, they're now finding the fruits of their labour cropping up all over this plantation.

"The more we harvest the more we realise how successful it is," says Dr Guerin. "Already here we are at mid-season and we have harvested six kilograms from this block."

At $3000 a kilogram, a 150-gram whopper is worth just under $500.

Black truffles have been grown here for years, but only under the much slower-to-mature oak and hazel trees.

For the forestry industry, truffle-infused pine seedlings could produce an annual return long before they're cut down for timber.

"It's certainly a good opportunity to add value to a pine plantation and to produce an innovative food," says Dr Guerin.

Meanwhile the black truffle industry is now well-established. Wayne Tewnion planted oak and hazel trees on his Yaldhurst property 18 years ago, and the earthy black fungus that grows under them is in demand.

"We're selling them up around Auckland and right down around Queenstown, so we're covering the whole area," says Mr Tewnion.

Dr Guerin's aim of turning truffles, black or white, into a popular delicacy in New Zealand has just taken a giant step forward.

Source TV3 News. To read the full story >>