We regularly get reports from people that have found truffles in their gardens. Looking at the list we are up to 80 such finds reported to us. Typically these start in May or June. In most cases they are found after being dug up by animals such as squirrels or badgers and sometimes the family dog. We got our first report of this year on Sunday (31st March) from Cheltenham, where it was thought the truffle had been nibbled by foxes. Like all of these early truffle finds, it was unripe with the gleba (spore bearing flesh) inside very white. At this stage it will have no smell or flavour so won’t be appearing on the finder’s dining table. While truffles prefer free-draining soil over chalk or limestone, this find was in heavy clay near to some self-seeded hazel trees.
You can read more about early / unripe truffles here.