ARCHIVED - Desert truffles doing well at experimental plot in Torre Pacheco

Research is under way into alternative crops in the Campo de Cartagena

As farmers and agriculturalists in the Region of Murcia constantly strive to improve and vary their crops in order to make the most of the climate and other resources at their disposal an interesting experiment appears to be meeting with success at an experimental project in Torre Pacheco.

Searching for products which require minimum irrigation, the Agriculture department of the Murcia regional government is supporting a trial in which desert truffles are being grown in the Campo de Cartagena, best known at present for the cultivation of leaf vegetables. Should the results prove positive, this would open the door for the growth of a product which requires practically no water at all, and which could prove especially attractive in areas where the excessive use of fertilizers containing nitrates is believed to have contributed via runoff to the deterioration of the marine environment in the Mar Menor.

In fact, watering is required only when the truffles are planted and then in the late summer and autumn, between August and November, before the final product can be harvested after around 2 years.

The program in Torre Pacheco began in March 2017, and the first assessable results are expected during 2019, according to María Dolores Valcárcel, the secretary of Water, Agriculture, Farming and Fishing in the regional government.

At present the market price of desert truffles in Spain fluctuates between 15 and 30 euros per kilo, and in general a hectare of land devoted to the crop produces around 600 kilos per year. This has already made it attractive enough to be cultivated in northern and central Murcia, but it is still very much a minor product in the overall context of the agricultural sector of the Region.

The term “desert truffle” is used to refer to edible hypogeous fungi (fungi that live entirely underground) growing in arid and semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean region, and as a delicacy they are generally more appreciated in Africa and the Middle East. They grow naturally in Spain, where popular names differ from region to region: in Murcia they are generally referred to as “turmas”, whereas in Extremadura they are “patatas de tierra” or “criadillas de tierra”, in Lanzarote “papas crías” and in Fuerteventura “criadas”.

The Romans knew about “desert truffles” and called them “tuber” which in Latin means “hump” or “lump”, probably on account of the bulge they make in the ground when mature. At this point they begin to crack the surface of the ground, and nothing more than good eyesight is needed to detect them.

Image 1: Anissa Helou, see www.anissas.com

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