Truffles: North Carolina's Next Tobacco?

Source from:  By Yvette Yeon Growth & Infrastructure Reporter NBC17.com Apr 28, 2008 04/29/2008

It's a tale of fungus to fortune. A North Carolina native is determined to make the Tar Heel state famous for exotic fungi. She says out with tobacco in with truffles. You missed out if you missed the free samples at this weekend's Southern Women's Show. Slices of black truffles between brie, provolone and havarti cheese and slices of sunflower bread made quite a menu. The price tag for this fancy grilled cheese sandwich… $200 bucks. In the next four to five years, founder of Black Diamond French Truffles, Susan Rice, says she will have the biggest truffle farm in the country. "We're going to try to be like the Napa Valley in California but with truffles," Rice said. Her farm of 200 acres is located between the town of Vass and Carthage. Orchards cost an average of $25,000 per acre to get started and truffles grow on host trees like hazelnut and oak. And with the Southern climate, rice says, the old tobacco fields are great for truffles. "The climate is right," Rice said. "The soil is right. We can grow the trees that have to be infected by the fungus in the right condition." Truffles cost about $2,000 per pound. Harvested once every five years, rice aims to bring in up to $15 million during harvest. "Our tobacco fields are just prime because their looking to places to put crops now," she said. "So we're better than some place where it's going to produce almost $40,000 an acre per year, that's compared to tobacco that's about $23,000 and acre right now, that's a huge difference." "About 30 to 40 years ago, North Carolina had something like 60 percent from tobacco and those days are over," said Taylor Williams, agricultural extension agent Rice says high-end chefs, celebrities and specialty foods market chains are already showing interest. Truffles are primarily grown in Europe. Once planted, orchards last about 80 years. Enditem