A type of edible fungus, truffles have been
highly prized delicacies for centuries; but
now it seems that harvests are decreasing.
Image: iStockphoto
It was while truffle hunting in an ancient oak forest in Bologna, Italy, (followed by a simple meal in the hunter’s home of fresh white truffle shaved over spaghetti) that Australian horticulturalist Colin Carter decided he had found nirvana.
Colin, a Swinburne University of Technology horticulture team leader, was far from the world of truffles as he knew it.
With a year-old, one-hectare, 400-oak-tree ‘truffière’ on the outskirts of Melbourne and a nursery specialising in inoculated oak trees, which he runs with his son Nathan, Colin has witnessed the quite rapid development of the Australian truffle industry. It now produces about 1.5 tonnes annually of the highly prized edible fungus.
Awarded an International Specialised Skills Institute (ISSI) TAFE Fellowship (Skills Victoria) in 2008 to study truffle production overseas, a journey to France, Italy and Spain at the end of 2009 unveiled to him an industry steeped in tradition and struggling to find its way in a modern world demanding consistent supply.
Colin travelled with Nathan, who has studied the industry as part of his university studies in agricultural science and commerce, to examine the truffle from its oak forest roots and hunter markets, to the latest horticultural research at the University of Bologna in Italy and a specialist agricultural truffle school at La Montat in France.
Although the pair saw the latest developments at the university, it was time with the truffle hunter that inspired them. “We were taken right back to the foundations of the industry. At times we could hardly believe that we were right at the heart of the truffle world – something we are striving to emulate in Australia,” Colin says.
Truffles are unique underground ‘mushrooms’ that grow on the roots of trees, which either naturally host the fungi (such as in the truffle forests of Italy and France) or have been inoculated with truffle spores (as with truffières in Australia).
Highly sought-after for their pungent flavour and aroma, which is easily imparted to other ingredients, such as oil and eggs, truffles were called “the diamond of the kitchen” by the 18th-century French gastronome Brillat-Savarin. Truffle consumption is recorded as far back as 400 BC and truffle hunting remains a mysterious occupation, with hunters seeking out the truffles using specially trained dogs.
However, truffle harvests have declined substantially during the past century. In France in 1900 truffle hunters harvested 1000 tonnes from the forests. “Now, the total harvest is down to about 20 tonnes a year. We went to an annual truffle auction, where hunters arrive with their truffles in little bamboo baskets, and at that auction last year there was only about 50 kilograms of truffles for sale. The year before at the same event there was 200 kilograms,” Colin says.
In Italy and France, licensed truffle hunters are allowed access to the forests. There are few cultivated truffières. However, in Spain – where truffles are not traditionally part of the local cuisine – Colin witnessed expanding plantation truffières, providing him with insights into horticultural techniques and the need for advanced farming techniques in Australia to produce truffles good enough for premium export markets.
Truffles grow most successfully in free-draining soils with a pH of 8. In Europe, low pH soils are not considered suitable. However, in Australia, Colin says growers have proven that the addition of lime to correct the pH of acidic soils can produce truffles successfully.
“Only about eight per cent of trees in Australia at the moment are producing truffles. In Spain, the lowest result in a plantation truffière would be 30 per cent. But one guy I met claimed he was getting 90 per cent, so we have to look at what techniques we are using – particularly pruning, cultivation and irrigation,” Colin says. He adds that in Europe the mycorrhiza (the fungus from which the truffle grows) prosper in “hungry” soils that regularly dry out at the base of trees that “never look luxuriant.” This is contrary to mainstream horticultural beliefs in Australia.
Another message Colin brings back is the need to ensure only superior varieties of truffles are produced in Australia – namely the French black truffle (Tuber melanosporum), the summer truffle (T. aestivum) and two white truffles, Italian white (T. magnatum) and bianchetto (T. borchii). Inferior truffles, such as T. indicum, which originated in China, are being grown in Europe and are often buried in bags of French black truffles bought by unsuspecting buyers, with their true identity not revealed until they are cleaned.
“Australian production is off-season to the European truffles and our target markets are the high-end Asian consumers who already recognise Australia’s image for clean, green, high-quality food production, which only helps our industry,” Colin says.
As the local industry grows, so will demand for knowledgeable horticulturalists, Colin anticipates. This may provide potential training opportunities for Swinburne, with truffière owners – who often come to the industry after retiring from careers in other industries – looking for weekend and remote learning opportunities.
Colin says he has always been fascinated by the horticulture behind truffle growing. “I was teaching students about mycorrhiza on eucalypts and how it is needed to ensure good growth when, about five years ago, a colleague introduced me to truffles. It takes a while to get your head around growing trees that don’t look the best and need hungry soils to prosper.”
Wayne Haslam, president of the 80-member Australian Truffle Grower’s Association, says the knowledge gathered by Colin in his travels will benefit all of Australia’s growers (estimated at 140) who tend the 600 hectares of truffières across Australia.
“There is so much about truffles we just don’t understand. One of the biggest unanswered questions is what triggers the mycorrhiza to start the fruiting process. If we knew that, and the impact of Australian soils and climate, perhaps production could increase significantly,” he says.
However, Wayne predicts the Australian industry will continue to grow because of undersupply in Europe, and the best product should maintain a consistently high price of $1500 to $1800 a kilogram at the farm gate.
A 2008 report by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation says Australia’s truffle production could reach 10 tonnes by 2013 from more than 600 hectares of mature truffières.ain text here
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