A MAN who swapped the world of precious metals for the search for edible treasures which can often be even more valuable says business has "mushroomed".

Matt Sims set up Usk-based Welsh Truffle Company around 10 years ago.

He is now supplying the rare and sought-after fungi to restaurants and other sites across the country.

Mr Sims entered the world of fungi cultivation from a career which couldn't have been much more different.

"The metal industry I was involved in was precious metal," he said.

"We focused on the procurement of redundant and production fallout of integrated circuits, components and circuit boards which we then sent for gold extraction."

After moving house and buying a smallholding, Mr Sims made the decision to take a chance on truffles.

"It seemed that there weren’t any other farmers growing truffles in the UK," he said.

"I knew that it would take a minimum of eight to 10 years to bear fruit or maybe not at all.

"Being a bit of a gambler I decided to go with it."

He explained that the process had been "immensely hard work" and involved adding more than 350 tons of agricultural lime and other ingredients to the soil.

This was done in order tto achieve the correct soil ph to facilitate the truffle mycelium growth process.

A mycelium is what mushrooms and other fungi sprout from.

"Over the course of winter 2007 -2008, along with a couple of lads from work,  my father and my uncle Tony, we planted nearly 5,000 truffle inoculated trees over 11 acres," Mr Sims said.

Eight years later, and trusty truffle dog (Truff) found Mr Sims' first Welsh summer black truffle.

"It was a fantastic day that I will never forget," he said.

"A year later we found the first winter truffle, a different species that we planted for experimental reasons.

"This was the first of its kind to be cultivated in the UK."

Today Welsh Truffle Company provide for restaurants, TV companies and also sell online at welshtruffles.com

Like many small businesses in the UK, Mr Sims found lockdown "very tough to start".

However, he said that despite the struggles, "it wasn’t long before online sales, pardon the pun, mushroomed".  

"Orders back up on a regular basis, so we have 3 dogs now that hunt truffles almost daily," he said.

"Business could not be better."

Mr Mims recently had a visit from local Senedd member Peter Fox, who was full of praise for his business.

“It was an absolute delight to meet owner Matt Sims to hear more about the truffle trade which, in the next decade, is expected to be worth more than £3 billion," said Mr Fox.

“Matt started the business in 2008, after planting just short of 5,000 trees, but the end results are now bearing remarkable fruit.

“This is an outstanding Monmouthshire business and I’m certain it will continue to grow from strength to strength.”

How much are truffles worth?

South Wales Argus: Truffles

According to Forbes, gold is currently priced at 43,000 euros per kilogram.

A white Alba truffle is approximately 10 per cent the value of gold per gram.

Silver is about 800 euros a kilo, which equates to about 20 per cent the value of truffle.