It’s been a tumultuous time for truffle growers in recent years, with Covid, economic conditions, weather patterns and the rise of synthetic truffle products toying with the market for the delicacy.
The ABC recently reported that despite Australia growing as one of the largest truffle producers in the world, consumer expectations are being skewed by synthetic flavours, often found in products like truffle oil.
Stuart Dunbar of Yarra Valley Truffles toils over his truffiére in Woori Yallock, with the help of truffle dogs Lani and Jäger, and said products like oils as well as under-ripe truffles have created an unrealistic perception.
“They ran so many products through the supermarkets over the past 12-24 months, atthe start of this year I was surprised that they cancelled nearly all over the lines, everybody’s over-saturated they’re expecting and don’t breathe too deep they’re expecting that type of aroma (like garlic),” he said.
“It’s never present (the garlicky aroma) in black truffles, white truffles do have that aroma, but black truffles don’t,”
“It’s fairly large problem I think, I’ve cooked using truffle oil and there are about eight compounds in the makeup of an artificial truffle oil, while there’s about 360 in the aroma of a fully ripe truffle.”
Mr Dunbar has been growing truffles on his one-hectare property since 2006, harvesting his first Périgord black truffle in 2011 and refining the craft of growing truffles ever since, something he said he hadn’t even perfected until the last five years.
Mr Dunbar said another key giveaway that a consumer hasn’t experienced a ripe truffle is if they describe it as an ‘earthy, mushroomy smell’.
“That’s an unripe piece of junk, there’s nothing in the earthy and mushroomy about that tantalising, romantic, warm molasses and umami, truffle’s the definition of umami,” he said.
“People who experience their product, it’s even worse when they are expecting that (the truffle oil flavour) because that’s what the market’s taught them, but do you really think $5 truffle butter on top of the steak in the supermarket actually has real truffle in it,”
“Mostly I’m providing people with cooking advice, and then providing them with a free truffle on top of that, and for that once a year, they’re expecting that wow expectation, if they get that good experience, they come back for it.”
The last time the Star Mail spoke to Mr Dunbar, Covid’s impact on the export market for truffles, the closed hospitality industry and travel restrictions limiting farm gate sales were painting a dark picture for small truffle growers.
Mr Dunbar said in the years since, it’s been up and down.
“From 2022-23, hospitality’s been very much dead but there’s been a slight return of interest this year, which is a surprise, I had to shift to driving the direct farm gate retail sales and export,” he said.
“The exports has gone up and down, some of it was associated with Israel, so the last two years there went that supply, I tried to pick up a new customer for South Korea and Italy last year, but he hasn’t taken anything this year,”
“It’s been a slow season, very much a repeat of weather patterns from last year, there’s always some different environmental factors before all the economical and political ones, but the sustained dry last year was a big problem, so I changed my irrigation patterns this year which has definitely improved it, but it’s definitely a far later start to the season this year.”
Mr Dunbar expects to have truffles into the middle of September this year.
Since the first Australian truffle was harvested in Tasmania in 1999, Australia’s truffle industry has continued to grow, becoming the fourth-largest producer in the world according to the Australian Truffle Industry Association.
