Germany is certainly among the suitable habitats for truffles. The species mainly found are summer and Burgundy truffles, the latter being rarer. Loose, calcareous soil is essential for these species' growth — as are the right host trees: oaks, hornbeams, lindens, hazel.
The legal situation
Under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance (BArtSchV), all native truffles in Germany may not be collected, because they are classed as specially protected species. Anyone foraging in the wild and removing truffles is committing an administrative offence or, in some cases, a criminal offence.
Exempted from this rule are truffles from licensed plantations: those who cultivate truffles on their own or leased land may harvest and sell them. In the past twenty years this has produced a small but steadily growing plantation movement — chiefly in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Where truffles grow
German truffle populations are concentrated in:
- Swabian Alb — calcareous soils, mild summers, traditional oak forests.
- Franconian Alb and Bavarian Jura — comparable geological conditions.
- Hessian and Palatine hill country — good Burgundy truffle stocks.
- Saxon limestone areas — summer and Burgundy truffles, recently discovered populations.
Pedagogical or scientific purposes
If you wish to find truffles for pedagogical or scientific purposes, you require an official permit. For the search, deploy a trained truffle dog — ripe truffles are virtually never visible to the naked eye, since they grow underground.
In spring and summer, the truffle fly (Suillia gigantea) can occasionally be a clue: it hovers just above the ground over ripe summer truffles and lays its eggs there. But even so the rule applies: digging without a permit is a punishable offence.
Anyone who wants to hunt truffles in Germany has two options: start a plantation — or go to Switzerland.
A plantation as a hobby
A small plantation of one's own is feasible: eight to twelve inoculated oaks or hazels on a sunny slope with calcareous soil, and a measure of patience — the first harvest comes no earlier than eight, often only twelve to fifteen years later. More on this under Truffle cultivation.