After EGET Foundation, Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Will Also Grow Truffles

In Yatağan District of MUĞLA, the Metropolitan Municipality established a production area for truffles, which are preferred by gourmets in France, known as the ‘food of kings’ and ‘black diamond’, and sold in Europe at prices starting from 200 Euros per kilo.
Muğla Metropolitan Municipality created a truffle production area in an area of 9 thousand 300 square meters in Kafaca Kaplancık Neighborhood of Yatağan District within the scope of alternative agricultural products with high added value throughout the province. 321 winter truffle-inoculated oak saplings and 4,430 lavender saplings were planted.
Salih Tufan, Head of the Department of Agricultural Services of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality, said that they have determined that truffles are suitable for Muğla in their efforts to enable farmers to produce high value-added products on their land, and that they will be able to get products from truffles planted in the Metropolitan truffle production area in Yatağan District within 5 years and from lavender saplings next year.
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Truffle Application and Research Center Director Prof.Dr. Aziz Türkoğlu said that the truffle production area is no different from those in France and Italy, and that Muğla has a soil structure and climate suitable for truffles.
Safai Özer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Education, Geriatrics, Ecological, Agriculture, Tourism (EGET) Foundation, said that they have been working on truffle cultivation in Muğla and that they are proud of the support given by the Metropolitan Municipality to the producers in truffle cultivation and thanked Osman Gürün, Mayor of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality, for this support.
French truffle expert, agricultural engineer Pierre Sourzat said that Muğla’s climate and soil are very suitable for truffles and that he came from a geography where truffles grow abundantly in France.
Hasan Haşmet Işık, Mayor of Yatağan Municipality from CHP, said that thanks to Muğla Metropolitan Municipality’s truffle studies, Muğla producers were introduced to a new product and that producers will protect their land more with such studies.
‘WE INTRODUCE OUR PRODUCERS TO HIGH VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS’
Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Osman Gürün of CHP said that development and progress in Muğla should not only be in one sector, and that they are working to develop Muğla with all its values, both coastal and rural. Mayor Gürün said, “In the future of the world, agriculture, agriculture and every product produced from the soil will be important. With the truffle production area we have created in Yatağan, we are introducing our producers to a product with high added value. We believe that development and progress should not only be in one sector, that Muğla is divided into rural and coastal areas, that Muğla has great potential in tourism and agriculture, and we shape our work accordingly. In our research on products with high added value for our producers and farmers, where they can earn more income per acre, we have determined that truffles are suitable for Muğla soils and we will produce this product in this sample production area. 5 years later, when we harvest this product, we will be together at the harvest festivities. We want to carry Muğla into the future by ensuring the balance between agriculture and tourism in Muğla.”
TRUFFLE MUSHROOM
Although truffles, which are said to have 70 varieties, grow in many places, the most valuable and delicious ones are produced in European countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Croatia and Spain. In France alone, 20 thousand people make a living from these mushrooms. Truffles, like potatoes, grow underground and close to tree roots, up to 50 cm below the ground. Because it grows underground, it is not visible from the surface and requires special expertise to collect truffles. In fact, dogs and pigs, specially trained for their sense of smell, are mostly used for this purpose. The aroma of truffles, which are the size of a walnut and weigh an average of 100 grams, is at its most intense when fresh. Truffles should be used fresh as they gradually lose their aroma and juiciness. It is recommended to consume truffles within five days of picking to get the taste of such an expensive food that is worth the price. The kilogram of truffles, which are used in dishes prepared in the kitchens of luxury restaurants and hotels abroad, can find buyers between 200 and 3 thousand euros on average, depending on the type and quality.

DHA