At the 1988 Spoleto congress Ian Hall briefly outlined his plans for cultivating truffles in New Zealand to cater for out-of-season Northern Hemisphere markets. The first Tuber melanosporum truffles were found in 1993 on a truffière owned by Alan Hall on the East Coast of the North Island at 38° 35′ S. However, it was not until 1997 when Alessandra Zambonelli unearthed a 250 g truffle in the same truffière that the first commercial harvest in the Southern Hemisphere began. Truffles were later harvested in New Zealand truffières between 38°S and 44°S. Truffle cultivation subsequently spread first to Australia in 1992, followed by South America and South Africa. Here we outline the scientific, technical and other problems that were encountered in New Zealand’s truffle research programme, how they were overcome, and the successful commercial cultivation of Tuber melanosporum, Tuber borchii and other edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms.