"Piedmont Valley Truffles is doing today what Robert Mondavi, and many other early pioneers, did for American viticulture in the 1970's." Similar to wine from Napa Valley thirty years ago, truffles grown in the United States today are of extremely high quality but relatively unknown to most consumers and chefs.

The Black Truffle is a mycorrhizal mushroom and cannot be cultivated in a growing room. Truffles grow in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of suitable host trees. In this mutually beneficial relationship the truffle supplies the plant with minerals from the soil, and in return the plant provides the fungus with its required nutrients. The truffle fungus grows around and partially into the first few layers of the host roots, eventually encapsulating them.

Pre-inoculated seedlings are the most commonly used method for truffle propagation. This process involves direct spore mass inoculation on specially prepared plants. The young seedlings are treated with a spore-containing solution, which will result in 100 percent mycorrhization. Approximately 80 percent of these trees will produce truffles in varying amounts when fully mature.

A hexagonally close-packed planting combination of filbert and oak trees will ensure the highest yield in early years without sacrificing longer-term growth. This combination is superior to hazel-only, as hazels will produce for a maximum of twenty years. Oaks may take longer to produce initially, but will yield truffles for almost fifty years.

The Black Truffle naturally grows in the calcareous soils of Italy, France and Spain between latitudes forty and forty seven degrees North. The principal characteristic of these soils is their high pH (measure of acidity), which is caused by their considerable calcium carbonate (limestone) content. The pH of the soil in other growing areas is typically lower than the optimum levels of 7.9 to 8.3, with 8.1 ideal for truffle formation. However, this factor can easily be adjusted through the use of organic lime.

All truffiéres that have produced Black Truffles outside of Europe were established on acidic or neutral soils that had been modified with the application of large amounts of lime. Changing the pH of the soil with lime also has the additional benefit of stifling the competitive organisms and promoting truffle growth.