HIDDEN TREASURE: Tibooburra truffiere manager Greg Kerr marks the spot where Victoria’s first truffle was unearthed.By KATH GANNAWAY
THE first sniff of a promising truffle industry in the Yarra Valley sent Melbourne restaurateurs and the media into a gastronomic frenzy last week.
Truffles are grown in small quantities in Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia, but the harvest last Wednesday, 20 July, of a 250 gram black truffle from beneath a hazelnut tree on the Kerr family’s property, Tibooburra, in Hoddles Creek, is a first for Victoria.
The Kerr family has owned Tibooburra, an Angus beef cattle stud and 80acre vineyard with its own wine label, since 1967.
Tibooburra is partners in the truffiere, the name given to places where truffles are grown, with Duncan Garvey of Perigord Truffles in Tasmania.
All up, with the help of the specially trained nose of Tasmanian truffle hound Pickles, another six smaller black truffles, the world’s most valuable fungi, were lifted from the rich, red soil, bringing the total harvest to 750 grams.
“It’s a holy grail experience as a primary producer,” Tibooburra truffiere manager Greg Kerr said.
Mr Kerr said Tibooburra “went out on a limb” to finance the state’s first truffiere.
He said the biggest growth potential was overseas where they were aiming at tapping into a $3000 per kilo market.
“What Tibooburra and Perigord is aiming for is to capitalise on those growth opportunities,” Mr Kerr said.
Mr Kerr said it was because the pungent perfume of truffles translated into a “magnificently sublime” taste that people were willing to pay a lot of money for them.
