A SCOTTISH woman unknowingly pulled a white truffle from her garden – that would have been worth thousands had she left it to grow.
The discovery – described by a chef as one in 200,000,000 in Scotland – was made in a garden in the Portobello area of Edinburgh.
The woman, who does not want to be identified, took the item to a restaurant where it was confirmed as an Alba truffle.
Fully matured, the truffle is worth around £7,500 a pound but the highly-prized edible fungus was still developing.
Despite that, Campbell Mickel, owner of Merienda restaurant in Edinburgh, is serving the truffle on dishes for charity.
The finder was gardening, giving the vegetable patch an “overhaul”, when she discovered the odd object in her rake.
The finder, who wishes to remain anonymous, posted on social media on Sunday: “Has anyone else found white truffles growing in their back garden? I think I have!
“It looks just like this picture and smells weird.”
Once pictures were posted on Facebook, multiple people offered their insight as to what it could be.
One user said: “Yep. Looks like a truffle. Is it growing out of the tree roots?”
Another argued: “I am not convinced that is truffle, been a chef all my life and I am not sure. “
Eventually, Campbell received a call and visited the woman to check for himself.
He said today (fri): “It’s one in 200 million. It’s off the charts that this has been found.
“I jumped into the car as soon I got the call and went down to see for myself pretty quickly.
“It was quite a young truffle and it had been out of the ground so it was imperative we used it before it was too late.”
The truffle is being served as part of Merienda’s ‘Hot Potato and Roast Parsnip Air’ with proceeds of the dish being donated to baby bereavement charity SiMBA.
Speaking today, the truffle finder said: “I can’t believe I found a truffle in my back garden.
“I was giving the vegetable patch an autumn overhaul and I just raked it up.”
The gardener explained why using the truffle for charity meant so much to her.
Referring to the tragic death of her nephew, she said: “ The truffle is named after my sweet little nephew Luca, a very special boy with amazing spark and character and resilience, our tiny, precious local hero.
“I chose the SiMBA charity as it provides memory boxes to families at a time of great loss and these are so very important to parents.
“I have seen the care and work that goes into making these boxes first hand.
“They are beautifully presented and filled with the most important and treasured memories of some very special babies”
White truffles are normally found in the North of Italy.
In 2014, a black labrador managed to sniff out rare black truffles in a hotel grounds in Perthshire.
