The truffle season runs from June to September here in Australia, and every year we make sure this sought-after ingredient is featured on our Winter Menu (sneak peek below!).
Our new winter menu is coming out in 2 weeks, and this year we’re incorporating a generous serving of freshly shaved black Périgord truffles into one of our main dishes (stay tuned for more!). And just so we can get closer to the sniffing action, every year the Bodhi Team and owner @HeavenLeigh_Official travel to the NSW Southern Tablelands to spend the day hunting truffles at Ganymede Farm where we set up a grill and cook up a truffle dish inspired by our trip – something just as tasty as this Vegan Cheese and Truffle Toastie. Stay tuned for this years trip and truffle inspired dish.
In preparation for our upcoming truffle hunt, we did some more digging around the expensive subterranean fungi and found some fascinating facts:
Fact #1 Truffles are one of the most expensive foods money can buy
That we all know. But did you know it was once auctioned for 4 million dollars?? That kind of money can buy us a house up in Palm Beach... On average though, white truffles cost about $200 an ounce and black truffles cost $50 an ounce. Ka-Ching!
Fact #2 Only black truffles are native to Australia
White truffles are smooth, musky and pungent, typically found in Italy, southern France and Croatia. Black truffles on the other hand, have a more subtle, nutty, earthy flavour, and are usually found in Australia, Europe and northern California.
Fact #3 Truffles are difficult
They are frustrating to grow, rarely cultivated and hard to find. They can only be found in nature, often with a ton of research and the help of well-trained water retrievers, pigs and goats.
Fact #4 Truffles are known to be an aphrodisiac
Well tucked underground near tree roots, truffles have a distant, penetrating aroma that is known to attract hungry animals (such as wild boars and foxes) to help spread their seeds and reproduce. And believe it or not, this scent is similar to the male pheromone…
Fact #5 Truffles need to be kept cool
The best way to store truffles is to transport them (while they are still attached to some soil) using a cool box, then clean the soil off with a brush, wrap them in kitchen paper and inside a hermetic box or jar, and into a fridge at 3° or 4°C.
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