They are one of the least promising-looking delicacies in the world, sniffed out by pigs in rural corners of Europe, sold for thousands of dollars and prized above almost every other foodstuff by gourmands. They are also -- in a more humble, native form -- lurking in record numbers in British woodlands.
The UK appears to be experiencing a bumper harvest of the native summer, or Burgundy, truffle at a time when other crops in the south have been wilting through a heatwave and drought.
"We seem to have an apparent abundance," said Nigel Hadden-Paton, a truffle expert who had a sensationally successful day last week searching for culinary gold in a wood at a secret location.
He suggested that rich pickings are to be had in soils scattered between Dorset in southwest England and Darlington in the northeast.
"It's extraordinary," he said. "It may be something to do with global warming but I just don't know. It may be a flush lasting two or three weeks and that will be it."
Hadden-Paton runs Truffle UK, a company which cultivates truffles and imports them from France, Italy and Croatia.
"The percentage of the population of Britain that eats truffles is minuscule and I'm trying to reverse that trend because truffles are here under our feet in our copses and woods," he said.
The British fungus sells for ?130 (US$246) a kilo, compared with last season's cost of an Italian tuber magnatum (?2,000 a kilo) or Perigord tuber melanosporum (up to ?1,000 a kilo).
"Because it is less favored, the price of the truffle found in Britain is lower," Hadden-Paton said. "If you were to put the three truffles side by side and had risottos made, they would all taste different.
"The summer truffle found in Britain is a much more ... delicate flavor but I would not say it is better or worse. We need to educate people's palates and get them used to our indigenous truffle," he said.
The British truffle is also easier to find: continental varieties lurk several centimeters underground as they search for water, but the native truffle often breaks through the surface, even if it can be mistaken at first sight for dog excrement.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique