For the love of Black Truffles! – Interview with Western Australia’s Wine and Truffle Co.

Posted by angie on Jul 26, 2011 in food talk | 9 comments

With television shows like MasterChef Australia, My Kitchen Rules Australia and Iron Chef using black truffles as a featured ingredient – many people are wondering what exactly is a black truffle and what does it taste like?

We talked to Sake Van Weeghel, the CEO of the Manjimup-based Wine and Truffle Co as part of our Food Talk series. Established in the 90′s, this West Australian company has gone from strength-to-strength in producing some of the world’s best black truffles (also known as black Perigord truffles or Tuber melanosporum).

For the Love of Black Truffles!

WG: I read that the first truffles were harvested by your company in 2004. When did your company first realise that the business viability of cultivating truffles in Australia?
Wine and Truffle Co: A group of shareholders put a lot of money into establishing a truffiere, which included capital expenditure so that it should survive for at least 7 years. The key moment was when the trufferie started to produce and once the first truffle was found, there was a lot of joy and happiness like, “Oh, thank God it’s producing!”

WG: What countries does your company export its truffles to?
Wine and Truffle Co.: Our key markets are the US, Europe, and Asia. Some of the countries that we export to include France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, UK, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Bali (Indonesia), Korea, and New Zealand.

WG: What kind of truffles does your company produce or grow?
Wine and Truffle Co: The Tuber melanosporum which are the black truffles.

WG: What are the differences between White Alba truffles and black truffles?
Wine and Truffle Co.: White truffles are a rare species only found in Italy and Croatia. As there are very limited supplies of white truffles, the price is quite significant. When you look at the difference between the two other than one is white and one is black, they are just two different species – they have a different aroma and one is more delicate than the other.

WG: What is the biggest truffle that your company has harvested and how much did it go for?
Wine and Truffle Co.: I’m not sure. We call it an icon truffle and an icon truffle is above 200 grams. We have sporadically found an icon truffle over the past 4 to 5 years, I think this year we found one that weighed about 600 grams but that is almost unsellable because to pack it to the US because they are keen to have a 600 gram truffle that would normally go for around $1,200.

WG: I remember attending the Mundaring Truffle Festival a few years ago, and the aroma of the black truffles was not as strong as I thought it would be. Some friends said it smelled like garlic while others say it smelled more like vanilla. Is this because the truffles that I smelled and they smelled were immature, or do they just smell different to different people?

Wine and Truffle Co: The smell of black truffles depends on your palate. Some prefer a stronger aroma, while others prefer a lighter one which means that it is close to maturing is already mature.

The beautiful part of producing truffles is that each individual truffle is different. The shape might be different, the colour might be different, the texture might be different, and the aroma is different. You can produce 6 or 7 black truffles near a particular tree and every single truffle has some differences. We have sold some truffles from Tasmania as well and they have different characteristics as well.

WG: I checked on your website and you sell two different grades of black truffles. Based on the descriptions, one of the grades of black truffles is more round shaped than the other. Aren’t all truffles round shaped?

Wine and Truffle Co.: No, we wished they were – that would be great! It’s more or less that extra class is the top range, it means that you have a beautiful black egg, it is an even shape, with little or damage at all. It’s just a beautiful truffle not only for marketing purposes, but also when you fine dining where you can show the truffle and start shaving the truffle over dishes. It’s just beautiful. When you look at first class, it is irregular shaped it involves more cutting.

WG: Do you have any rejects?
Wine and Truffle Co: Those are called second class black truffles and those are the ones that you infuse food with. They have quite significant damage by insects or weather conditions like too much moisture. Basically you have to cut it out so you have a heavily cut truffle to use for meals but not for restaurants for the home. But some restaurants do want it but not for shaving – just to make truffle butter or truffle aoili, truffle with mashed potatoes, etc.

WG: I understand that your company has 5 truffle dogs. How are they trained to extract black truffles?
Wine and Truffle Co: By giving them very close attention. We adore our Queen and Kings. Some of them actually act like a princess, it is ridiculous.

Truffle dogs are trained in such a way that one is that they listen to the Truffle Hunter and secondly it is about getting them to know and understand the truffle aroma. We use an extract of truffles and we put it in a training area and train them to locate it.

WG: I remember watching a documentary years ago at a truffiere in France and they used pigs instead of dogs. Do we use pigs in Australia?
Wine and Truffle Co.: No. Which would you prefer to have next to you in the car? A dog or a pig?

It is an aphrodisiac for pigs and they get really excited about it. They will eat it so before you know it, your money has evaporated into the belly of the pig and then you have infused pork belly.

WG: Another thing that I found on your website is that before you freeze truffles, you cover them in oil or duck fat. How many times can you actually refreeze them before the aroma is lost?

Wine and Truffle Co.: When you freeze truffles you will lose the aroma by about 40-50% but it is still a product to use outside of the truffle season. The beautiful thing about freezing them is that you can take them out of the freezer and you cut it up into pieces that you need for your dish, then you put it back in the freezer so that you have a longer shelf life. You can keep them for about a year.

WG: I also noticed that you have a lot of black truffle by-products like truffle oil, truffle honey, truffle mustard, and truffle salt. Have you ever ever considered truffle vodka?

Wine and Truffle Co.: I know there a bar that has been opened in London where they sell truffle vodka but I can’t remember the name of it. We did some trials where we put it into brandy, so you just need to put a fresh truffle into brandy or vodka and you’ve got truffle brandy or truffle vodka. In terms of commercialising it, it would be nice if it was easy. It takes different regulations from a business perspective as it contains alcohol, but at this stage it is not part of our strategy.

WG: A common thread amongst people is why are white and black truffles so expensive, considering it is just a piece of fungus from the ground. Why are truffles so expensive?

Wine and Truffle Co.: Black truffles a rare, fresh produce. It doesn’t grow everywhere across the world. There is a huge capital investment involved in the background to see whether the trufferie will produce, there is a limited supply and limited avilabiity of truffles around the world in a global perspective so that is why the prices are expensive to slow down demand. Australia only produces 5% of the world’s black truffles.

There are trufferies in Australia who have been around longer for more than 10 years so that is one of the pitfalls behind it – it is a risky thing to do and part of it is the mythical – it is so rare to say why a tree is producing. The tricky part is whether the fungus can create a symbiotic relationship with the root of the tree.

WG: What’s your favourite food or drink that involves black truffles?
Wine and Truffle Co: Oh there’s so many varieties. Scrambled egg with truffles is very nice, truffle infused brie on a cheese platter with a nice glass of red wine, as a main – truffled risotto.

WG: Do you get to eat black truffles often as the CEO?
Wine and Truffle Co.: I smell truffles a lot but I don’t eat truffles a lot. During the truffle season I would probably have a few dinners, maybe 4 or 5 truffle dinners and that is it. It’s more or less to tell the story who wants to explore the story and taste a truffle. It is a privelege for me to meet people who are interested in truffles and have an open mind about using truffles in their cooking.

Like you see MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules on TV and it is great as it builds awareness in Australia, awarenes about cooking and using rare ingredients for creating a beautiful experience. That is where we want to go to – creating a great experience for those who love to cook food.

Last week we sent a newsletter to our members and what we’ve done is that we’ve started to explain how to organise your own degustation dinner – so you have simple recipes, and to feed your family all you need is to buy a piece of truffle that can cost $50 and you can create a brilliant dinner at home and where you can have a great night with a few glasses of wine, family, friends, excellent food and just enjoy!

WG: You mentioned that truffles had aphrodisiac properties for pigs. Do they have an aphrodisiac properties for human beings?
Wine and Truffle Co.: In the past during the Roman Empire, people thought it was an aphrodisiac and if they had truffles and wine then they were aroused by it. I think it’s the combination of having nice food, nice wine, and decent company that makes your heart tick.

Where to buy Black Truffles in Australia and overseas

Thanks to Sake Van Weeghel for his time in answering questions about the Wine and Truffle Co.’s world famous black truffles. For those who are keen to have a go at cooking truffles at home, you can buy their black truffle products like truffle oil online and the actual black truffles here.

Food lovers who love to see where black truffles comes from (like those who embrace the Slow Food movement) can also have a fun day out in Manjimup hunting for truffles.

Mundaring Truffle Festival 2011 – Black Truffles Galore!

Another great Perth food festival is coming up this weekend in Mundaring in the form of the Mundaring  Truffle Festival 2011. Unfortunately the Wine and Truffle Co. won’t be present this year. However, this is a great way to discover black truffles.