Truffle Day Has Arrived

Truffle day has arrived … I woke up early like a kid on Christmas morn. It was almost a white Christmas in July, the frost here in Chudleigh just out of Mole Creek in northern Tasmania was so heavy it looked like snow on the ground.  It was as cold as one would expect of a winter morning in Tasmania, a great day for that beautiful addition of mine …. Truffles.

Rugged up and headed off for the short drive to “Truffles of Tasmania” which is one of a few black truffle companies/farms down here in Tasmania. These guys have been working on developing the farm and establishing the trees for about 20 years now, it is a slow and fickle return on your large investment for the farmed black truffle.

A bit different to my truffle adventures for the wild grown white truffle of the Italy hills around La Marché with Doriano but funnily enough Mark our guide was still dressed in his camouflage outfit.

It was a very orderly hunt, we arrived to a small section of the 25000 acorn tree farm in a four wheel drive and that was the hardest part of the whole hunt. The dog did his bit and Mark just popped the truffles up from the ground. In the early part of the Tasmanian truffle season the truffle sit just under the surface ripe for the picking one might say.

My reward was so great and to soon be holding and constantly smelling a very cold hand full of truffles totalling 545 gram was a true delight. My addition is just as much to the smell as it is to the taste. This time Sandy was able to join me and really one could have or should have been sipping a warm beverage as we strolled the acorn tree lined avenues on our truffle hunt watching Mark and his dog at work.    

Within 20 minute we had harvested enough truffles that we soon made our way back to the warm and small laboratory style of a sorting and grading farm office.

As the truffles are so expensive the tour today was cut short as they only want to harvest as many truffles as they have sales for. Farm gate prices are from 1.2 to 1.5k per gram so our little haul was worth about $700. Prices sold into restaurants are up to 2K and when we were at the Salamanca markets they had a guy selling to the tourist for $3 a gram. We arrange to buy a 50gram nugget from the days haul and have enjoyed it over the past week.

Sandy made me an Italian white sauce pasta with a heavy shaving of truffles that 1^st night “heaven” We put the rest of the nugget with fresh eggs in a foiled lined bag so truffled infused scrambles eggs have been a real treat also.

But now they are all gone and I open my foiled lined bag every morning to get a smell but even that is coming to an end.   So till my next truffle adventure I will wait J