Truffle season is without doubt one of the most exciting times of the year for chefs and food enthusiasts alike.
Many enjoy the thrill of foraging their own produce from paddock to plate.
I am placed in a one-off Tuesday truffle hunt session with a group of hospitality workers from Bunbury and a family from Perth who have recently relocated back from the luscious lifestyle of Milan, Italy.
Valued at $2.50 a gram at The Truffle & Wine & Co., it was made clear from the start that the goodies – dubbed “black gold” – are not for pocketing.
Our group is warmly welcomed by tour supervisor Deb McLaren, who makes a hot drink of choice for everyone – we’re off to a nice start.
We sit for a presentation by Deb, who has been with the company for six seasons and has run truffle hunts for the past four seasons.
She takes us through the history of the truffle, how The Truffle & Wine Co. has developed over the years, and how the popularity of the fungi has blossomed to fashionable heights.
“People used to think it was a chocolate factory,” she says.
A mould of the first ever truffle harvested in mainland Australia from 2003 is passed around, it looks like a deformed large Ferrero Rocher.
Deb possesses a great understanding of truffles, she rattles off facts like a rehearsed stage performer.
Truffle was nicknamed “the fruit of the devil”, she tells us, because the church was against it as it acts as an aphrodisiac.
“Napoleon would say it gave him strength on the battlefield and in bed.”
Deb is confident that this year’s production at farm will reach six tonnes, which would surpass its record of five tonnes of dirty weight truffle in 2013.
Clearly, Deb is passionate about truffles.
It reminds me of the tour I went on at my beloved Chelsea Football Club in 2012, where the tour guide made it clear that he was a Chelsea supporter himself, whereas the staff around the ground and in the merchandise store were not particularly bothered about the club.
We hop onto the wagon with Deb and her dog Jazz, who will be our sniffer for this journey.
Jazz gets straight into it and discovers a truffle almost immediately, Deb begins digging while simultaneously holding back the eager dog who has already identified the next unearthing.
She uses a plastic shovel to dig into the ground and sniffs the soil to identify its distinctive aroma, a guitar pick is used to delicately scrape the dirt off the nugget.
The act of harvesting is like excavating a fossil or gold, there are thousands of dollars worth of truffle under the ground we are standing on.
We takes turns digging and picking the truffle from the ground.
“I will get an invoice if I mess this up,” a lady jokes as she digs for black gold.
Truffle harvester Sam Baddeley joins us and digs another spot Jazz that brings to our attention.
Sam is a self-proclaimed “visa hunter” from Stoke, England.
“It’s easier than avocado picking,” he laughs.
Sam is not particularly a fan of truffles. Perhaps that is why they hired him, they know he will not pilfer the valuables.
Dogs hunt for about an hour before they swap over because, like humans, their attention span goes wayward.
It is not a case of “finders keepers”, as each of us pop the truffles in the bag after giving them a good sniff.
Back at the cellar door we finish off with an enjoyable round of wine tasting.
The 21 truffles weigh in at 933 grams – which, if sold by the store, comes to a whopping $2332.
The Truffle & Wine Co. guided truffle hunts occur on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until August 28.
– Matthew Lau