The White Truffle has crossed the Alps

In 2012, a truffle dog named Giano made a spectacular discovery: In a city park in Geneva, he unearthed a White Truffle, also known as an Alba Truffle – the first to ever be found north of the Alps. The White Truffle is the most aromatic and valuable truffle; one kilogram can cost up to 10’000 Swiss francs. A research team led by Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge and the WSL now confirms that the underground tubers actually grow regularly at this location.

Between October 2012 and November 2018, Giano excavated a total of 15 truffles under a beech tree in the park. They weighed between five and fifty grams and belong to the species Tuber magnatum Pico according to a DNA analysis. The researchers have now issued a report on the first scientifically verified evidence of the species north of the Alps in the scientific journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment“.