CHINA
Chinese truffles are now sold in packages 25.00 Euros for 100 grams in the large French supermarket Casino for the general public in 2015.
They are black, about 25 grams each and generally of equal size laid onto a bed of straw in a cellophane box which shows how standardized the Chinese have become. To get such a luxury product onto a supermarket shelf is a miracle, even if it’s not to everyone’s taste.
To complicate matters it has now been proved the Chinese variety truffle (Tuber indicum) is now growing in Europe which is of great concern to truffle producers from America and Europe, some of whom already provide DNA certification.
Scientists have identified at least 4 species all coming from Yunnan (50%) Tibet (10%) and Sichuan (35%) and the low cost of this item means it can be incorporated into other foods giving them the ‘truffle identity’ even if the product has much less aroma. It will be a huge commercial business and a future problem to truffle growers.
The scale of their production can be seen in this comparable chart;
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