Scots pupils find rare truffles growing in their school vegetable patch

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Find: The truffles could be used to make oil that will help finance a new school kitchen for the pupils. Pic: © STV

A fine dining delicacy that is usually hunted by specially trained pigs in France was unearthed by school children in Perthshire.
The group at Moncrieff Primary School have found what is thought to be the first edible white truffle grown in the UK.
As the youngsters weeded out their vegetable patch at the school last week, pupil Jason McMillan stumbled across the truffle, which is the size of a golf ball, and initially thought it was a potato.
Jane Savage, a teacher at the primary, said: “The children are very excited.
“It's quite hard for them to understand because the only truffle they've ever heard of is a chocolate truffle so we had to have an assembly and show them what a truffle looked like and explain what a truffle was and how it was a kind of fungi but still they wish we'd found chocolate truffles.
“So it's been a learning curve for them because we're trying to teach them more about growing things to cook and not just buy then from the shops."
At least ten other truffles are still growing at the school and it is hoped it will be turned into truffle oil to raise funds for a new kitchen at the school where the pupils can learn to cook what they've grown.
Graeme Pallister, head chef at the 63 Tay Street restaurant in Perth, is mentoring the pupils in growing and cooking their own vegetables.
He said: "It's a white truffle, a variety called Tuber Maculatum. It's not the best of the class of white truffle but it's still used in cooking and we have had it identified as a proper truffle which is very important.
“We need the extra funds to put towards the kitchen and here they have found an absolute treasure, an absolute peach so yeah it's good for them. They had the savvy to say ‘what's this?’ because the smell was so pungent from it so lucky they did and not just throw it away."

taken from http://news.stv.tv/scotland/tayside/270925-scots-pupils-find-rare-truffles-growing-in-their-school-vegetable-patch/