Truffles are the fruit of underground fungi that form a sleeve over tree roots and live-in symbiosis with the tree. The fungus can draw nutrients from the soil far more efficiently than the tree’s roots alone, and in turn the tree provides carbohydrates to the fungus.

New Zealand truffles were first produced in a truffle plantation in Gisborne in 1993, and now there are a number of productive boutique plantations in both the North and South Island, stretching from the Bay of Plenty to Bannockburn in Central Otago.

Truffles are also grown in Canterbury which has several excellent producing plantations. Due to the small size of the current industry and a lack of transparency from growers, it can be challenging to compile current production data but production yields are recognised to be some of the highest in the world and highlights this region (and some others in New Zealand) as ideal for truffle production.

The New Zealand Truffle Company is a commercially and scientifically driven company. The company includes a number of specialists, including a New Zealand inoculation specialist who has trained in France, an internationally recognized fungi scientist, and a world leading truffle bio-technology and research facility.

The New Zealand Truffle Company focuses on both quality and scale throughout all its operations. Using advanced data tracking, we trace each seedling from the nursery to harvest and the truffles from farm to plate.