'Truffle prices double as hot summer hits harvest' - cary

A man in Alba, Piedmont, Italy checks the quality of a truffle. Photograph: Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis

Bad news for British gourmands – the truffle hunters of Italy are in despair. Their famously elusive prey has been rendered even more difficult to unearth this autumn following a baking summer when temperatures hit record levels. As truffles thrive in damp conditions, the arid months of July, August and September have meant this year's harvest threatens to be one of the poorest in decades.

Even seasoned fungi-seekers have seen nothing like it, with some parts of Tuscany going 61 days without rain. For British consumers, this is bad news. The volume being imported into the UK is down 50% on last year, according to those in the trade.

"For the first time we can remember we are pricing truffles on a daily rather than a weekly basis because we cannot guarantee supply, they are that elusive," said Nadia Howell, a director of L'Aquila, a fine foods company which runs whitetruffleauction.com.

The price of the most highly prized white truffle has more than doubled. British consumers lucky enough to be able to source white truffles can expect to pay as much as between £5,000 and £6,000 a kilogramme, compared with £2,000 to £3,000 last year. Even the less sought-after black truffle is selling for £400 to £500 a kilogramme in Britain, double the price of last year.
Truffles, which normally grow about 20-30cm below ground, have a short shelf life and can be sold only for a few days after they have been picked, meaning that establishing a regular supply is a problem even when the harvest is good. Increasing demand from buyers in Asia is also helping to push prices up.
And not only is there an acute shortage of truffles, the quality is also considered poor by cognoscenti. Price can also be determined by their shape and whether they have been picked intact. But the current dearth means consumers are having to resort to buying small 5g fragments of the fungi, the sort of pieces usually reserved for putting in oil and condiments.
As the subterranean tuber, which in Italy is found using specially trained dogs that can detect the buried treasure from 60ft feet away, are increasingly popular as corporate gifts and Christmas presents, the absence of quality white truffles in the run-up to the festive season is a particular concern for retailers of gourmet products.
For the truffle hunters of Umbria, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Abruzzo and Molise, the shortage threatens financial hardship. The white truffle season lasts only from October to the end of December. People who have a licence to seek the fungi work long hours to maximise their income, which often sustains them through the following year.

Although truffles are found in other parts of Europe, notably France, aficionados place a premium on those sourced from Italy, meaning that the country's autumn harvest largely dictates prices around the world.

The fragrant fungi are grated over pasta or eggs and their delicate taste is considered one of the finest epicurean experiences. The French essayist Jean-Louis Vaudoyer observed: "There are two types of people who eat truffles: those who think truffles are good because they are dear and those who know they are dear because they are good."
Howell was last week putting on a brave face, pointing out that the season still has two months left to run. Like many others, she would welcome reports of a sustained damp period across much of northern and central Italy: "We have to wait and see."