Truffle fact finding to Manjimup and Western Australia

Simple and strait to the point, if you are in the know, you know what its all about.

But again, they've missed Tassie of the map, Truffles are also farmed in Tasmania without the volume success of the Manjimup region who produce over 90% of Australia's harvest.

300km of good roads direct south from Perth lead to the farming township of Manjimup, relics of Manjimup's early timber days are prevalent in and around the town. Manjimup is similar to hosts of Australian pioneer towns with its ANZAC memorial and ode to distant royalty and an all-important main drag where everything happens. Manjimup was surrounded with impenetrable Eucalyptus, Jarrah and Kauri forests these have made way for prime farming land with Apples, Stone fruit, Broccoli, Avocados and wine production being among the major crops.

Another of Manjimup's cash crops are truffles, the idea started back in the 90's and has since become an eye opener as the world’s fourth largest producer of winter truffles. That the winter season here in Western Australia falls in the northern hemisphere summer means that the Western Australian truffles fulfil the fresh truffle market in the Northern Hemisphere during their off season.

A few km outside of Manjimup is The Truffle & Wine Co. a big operation farming 5 ton of truffles per season, Established in 1997 The Truffle and Wine Co. produced more than half of Australia’s harvest of black winter truffles Tuber melanosporum last year to the lion economies of Asia, north America and Europe, there’s even a nice little restaurant featuring local produce and of course truffles on site.

If you drop in for a visit there is also as a selection of their own local wines. Manjimup is just around the corner from Margret river grapes and wine are big business down around these parts. Since the first vintage in 2001 The Truffle & Wine Co. have had cellar door sales for their wines and value-added truffle products.

There are some locally produced truffle products manufactured here in Western Australia as most of the harvest is exported to manufacturing companies in more traditional markets like France. Get up close during the season and experience your own exclusive foodie truffle hunt here at The Truffle & Wine Co.

The local truffle farmers are still experimenting with forest combinations different hazel and oak varieties, spore impregnation, spacing, shading, soil types, ground cover, pruning techniques and more are part of the truffle farmers daily decisions. There's a contrast between Truffle “farming” in Australia and the traditional gathering of wild truffles in Europe.

Perth's Great Southern Truffles in the up-market Mt Hawthorn suburb of Perth produces a range of own brand truffle products ranging from foie gras, oils and even more traditional canned truffle jus and bits. Their slogan is "Gourmet Everything", not a bad slogan!

Their products are already featured in Australia's and Asia's better restaurants as standard ingredients. As exclusive consumer products, they’re available in Perth and the other main Australian cities which are an affluent enough market to start with, hopefully we'll see these great products in Europe soon.

The pioneering Manjimup Truffles is a little further down the road from The truffle & Wine co. Manjimup farm sheds and 5-acre nursery are set in natural eucalyptus groves, the truffle farm is just on a bit as the crow flies.

The Manjimup truffle farms are farms in the sense that they're created and planted as a modern farm with the production of and harvesting truffles as the prime objective. this focus has quickly lifted Australia into fourth place among the world’s truffle producing nations. The nursery at Manjimup truffles impregnate truffle spores onto a selection and traditional truffle bearing trees oaks and hazelnuts that are sold locally or transferred to their own plantings.

Australian Truffle Traders are a cooperative of 12 emerging local farms pooling their knowledge and resources as well as utilising the local micro climates to their maximum potential. Manjimup's harvest season runs from the middle of June until the end of August and has a seasonal peak in July. Australian Truffle Traders collectively export both nationally and internationally.

All Manjimup's truffle farms use dogs to sniff out the tubers, some have their own dogs’ others hire in sniffer dogs. Join them during the season for a guided hunt. Manjimup hosts the Truffle kerfuffle a weekend long food and wine festival in the heart of Australia's truffle country. 2018 is the eight-annual kerfuffle and will take place June 22-24

https://www.trufflekerfuffle.com.au/

In some places, the truffles are said to be visible with the naked eye, just like in the gold rush in the Klondike where the nuggets were said to by lying on the ground, in Manjimup the gold is black.