NORTH AFRICA
News item below found;
http://plantationsystems.com/desert-truffles-in-africa/
“Last month we had the pleasure of harvesting Desert Truffles in North Africa. The desert truffles are not so aromatic or tasty as European truffles but are still good to eat”. I was told.
There are more than 30 different species of Desert Truffle, and they all (as the name suggests) grow in the hot, dry regions around the Mediterranean, from Southern Spain through North Africa, to the Middle East and Turkey.
The traditional way of finding these knobbly, pale, whitish-brown truffles is by hitting the ground with a stick, to see where there is resistance. Nowadays the collector will be looking for the right plants, such as Helioanthemum spp., and around them the little cracks and humps that are indicative of the truffles growing below.
Dusk and dawn shadows also help to show the lumps and bumps in the sand where these truffles grow.
Sadly, because of the lack of scent, they don’t command the prices of European truffles and are often used as subsistence food, however they can be cultivated.
Desert truffles are also found in Algeria Libya, Iraq, Oman, Kuwait and of course Spain none of which are known for high rain fall, lush forests or large trees but were all under Roman occupation.
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