# Using Science and Technology to Unveil The Hidden Delicacy Terfezia arenaria, a Desert Truffle
## 1 Introduction  
Food production currently faces many challenges [1]. One of these challenges is climate change, which causes severe health, economic and environmental problems [2]. Current political actions, such as the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., SDG 12 Sustainable consumption and production, SDG13 Climate action), aim to mitigate climate change by shifting production and consumption patterns, and the production of mycorrhizal sporacors (i.e., the fruiting body of macrofungi usually known as mushroom or truffle) is no exception [2, 3]. With a key role in ecosystems [4], ectomycorrhizal fungi provide services and goods essential to maintain soil quality, ecosystem functions and food (some species) [2]. The global trade of mushrooms and truffles has grown significantly in the last two decades [5, 6]; in 2000, the global production of mushrooms and truffles was 8.78 million tons, and by 2021, this number had grown to 44.20 million tons. This represents a growth of over four times. The average producer price of mushrooms and truffles also increased during this period, by 1.5 times. However, a wider investment in mycorrhizal mushrooms and truffles as a food source, with the associated health, environmental and economic benefits [7, 8], is still hampered by insufficient science to showcase its benefits as a food source, and technology to boost its sustainable production and ensure its reliable identification. In agreement, although the production of mycorrhizal sporaceconomic, cultural and environmental impact in the Mediterranean Basin region [2], the list of the edible sporocarps authorized for trade in 27 European countries only includes 12 species. Furthermore, insufficient data make it challenging to provide accurate information on mycorrhizal mushrooms and truffles production and market prices. Taking the desert truffles (i.e., a family of truffles endemic to arid and semiarid areas of the Mediterranean Basin Region, North Africa and the Middle East, which includes several genera, namely _Terfezia_, _Tirmania_ and _Mattirolomyces_) as an example, they are among the wild mushrooms and truffles with higher selling prices [9; 10]. Due to strong cultural traditions [11], desert truffles have been part of the Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern cultures for centuries [12], and are widely consumed in these regions [12; 13]. As most of the world's trade of desert truffles occurs in North African countries [14], and most of this regional trade is not official, there is a lack of official data in these countries [8]. Therefore, the world's production and annual market of desert truffles is still unknown [14]. Nevertheless, desert truffle plantation yields can reach approximately 350 kg ha\({}^{-1}\), representing an expected average income of 7000 EUR ha\({}^{-1}\)[14]. Besides the economic revenue, desert truffles also constitute an important nonurishment source in North African and Arabic countries, being frequently used as a meat substitute [11; 15] or as a powder to increment the nutritional quality of bread and biscuits [16; 17]. Despite its great potential as a food source, only one edible desert truffle species is widely traded: _Terfezia claveryi_. All other potentially edible desert truffle species are being ignored. Therefore, a wider investment in desert truffles (and other mycorrhizal sporocarps) as a food source, with the associated health, environmental and economic benefits, is being hampered by insufficient science to showcase its benefits as a food source, and technology to boost its sustainable production and ensure its reliable identification. _Terfezia arenaria_ (Moris) Trappe is another desert truffle that forms a seasonal edible truffle with important ecological and socio-economic relevance [18]. Some studies have shown that this species, like other desert truffles, is rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and dietary fibre, making it a suitable addition to a balanced diet [19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24]. _T.