A Little Luxury

Truffles are an amusing example of a commodity the value of which is based on scarcity rather than any genuine utility (gemstones are another). Hence people are prepared to pay in excess of £2000 per kilo for what is essentially some mould. An obvious response to this situation is to attempt to cultivate the prized fungus in a controlled environment. Unfortunately, unlike more common mushrooms which grow happily in compost, truffles only grow in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain trees. Truffle farms exist, comprising trees grown from saplings germinated in controlled conditions, and subsequently innoculated with truffle spores- these are perhaps not wholly practical for the casual hobbyist however. A possible solution to the practical difficulties of keeping a tree as a source of truffles is to restrict the former's size- to grow truffles around a bonsai. I envisage a large bonsai tray in which the tree grows, with a layer of perhaps packing foam retained by mesh, within which the fungal fruiting bodies may grow, while restricting the potential for other fungal spores to contaminate the tree's root system. Whether a bonsai tree is capable of supporting a truffle crop remains to be seen, and if so it would be interesting to note whether the fungus is miniaturised in proportion to its host (my hunch is that it would not be).