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First ever wild edible truffle found in Latvia

BC, Riga, 26.08.2015.Print version

Earlier this month, the first ever wild edible truffle was found in Latvia, the LNT morning show "900 sekundes" reports, cites LETA.

 

The mushroom was found by a jeweler from Riga Jevgenijs Dokuto in his country property in Rezekne Region. He found two mushrooms that together weigh more than a half-kilogram, which is quite a lot for truffles.

 

"I came here to fix the roof, went out for a smoke and found something unusual next to my feet. Brought it home. A strong scent was coming from the mushrooms – I googled it up and found out that it is a wild truffle," Dokuto told the show.

 

He called the Latvian Museum of Natural History to tell them of his find. Mycologist Diana Meiere, who received the call, did not really believe the story. She said the museum received calls like this occasionally from people who say the same thing, but mostly these hypotheses turn out to be unfounded. The same occurred 3 years ago but the mushroom turned out to be inedible. This time, mycologists are 100 percent sure – the two mushrooms found in Rezekne are the closest relatives to the world's most expensive white truffle.

 

"It is a unique find for Latvia, although we are in their distribution range. We could have hoped to find this mushroom, and it is a huge surprise that we have. It means that we could find more of these because usually there has to be more than just one mushroom. They are simply unnoticed, so we have to look closer as they could be found anywhere," believes Meiere.

 

Jevgenijs is now considering changing his profession – leaving the jewelry business and starting a wild truffle business. There are restaurants that are ready to buy these truffles. In Latvia they could cost up to EUR 100-200 per kilogram.





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