Truffle hunting in NSW

I was very lucky today as I got to spend the day truffle hunting with Peter and Kate Marshall just outside Braidwood, NSW. They are our NSW suppliers and such lovely people – very generous with their knowledge, time, and of course the truffles.

We were joined by one of the world’s leading mycology consultants Efren Cazares who is a wealth of knowledge himself (the slogan on his business card says ‘Know your friends below ground’ although he was quick to add, “I don’t mean the dead ones”).

We were also joined, or rather led, by the two most important non-people – Sal the dog and her trusty sidekick learning his craft – Shadow. Given that we found 3kg in under two hours, it’s safe to say these dogs know what they’re doing.

Peter’s approach to truffles is really interesting and inspiring. His background is in forestry so he brings all that knowledge about the trees to the farming. He is himself inspired by the French truffle industry at the turn of the 20th century – a time when they produced multiple tonnes but without industrial processes. This back to basics approach (Peter himself says he is trying to recreate how the French did truffle farming in 1901 on his farm in terms of how he approaches farming, techniques used, natural irrigation systems and not using products such as herbicides etc) is delivering amazing results as his truffles have consistently been of the highest quality, much sought after in Australia and around the world.

Anyway, enough of me warbling. Here are a few photos of the day. And all the NSW truffles on sale in the shop this weekend are fresh out of the ground today!

Sal's ready to go hunting!

Did Sal get it right?....

A biggie, but not a goodie unfortunately

Yum!

If only every lunch could be like this...