Truffle fact finding trip

Truffle fact finding trip 

Manjimup & Western Australia

Good highways all the way to Manjumup

300km of good roads direct south from Perth is 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.

Thick native forest's abound in the area

Manjimup was surrounded with impenetrable Eucalyptus, Jarra 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 worlds 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.

The Truffle & Wine co.

A few km outside of Manjimup is the The Truffle & Wine Co. a big operation farming 5 ton of truffles per season, exporting to the lion economies of Asia, north America and Europe, theres 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 selections their own local wines. Manjimup is just around the corner from Margret river grapes and wine are big business down around these parts.

Cellar door sales  

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.

Truffle groves at The Truffle & Wine Co. 

Established in 1997 The Truffle and Wine Co. produced more than half of Australias harvest of black winter truffles Tuber melanosporum.
 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.

Gourmet Everything

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

Some of Great Southern Truffles value added selection 

These products are already featured in Australia's and Asia's better restaurants as standard ingredients. As exclusive consumer products they go hand in hand with the local luxury harvest from Manjimup and other Australian truffle producing areas, Perth and the other main Australian cities are an affluent enough market to start with, hopefully we'll see these great products in Europe soon.

The pioneering Manjimup truffles

The pioneering Manjimup Truffles is a little further down the road the 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 worlds truffle producing nations.
 

Impregnated hazelnut trees 

The nursery at Manjimup truffles impregnate truffle spores onto a selection and traditional truffle bearing trees oaks and hazelnuts that are sold locally or transfered to their own plantings.

Baseball cap

Manjimup is pretty hot during the summer don't forget sun protection, sunscreen and bring a hat or pick one up locally.

Tools of the trade

 The tools of the truffle grader and sorter, the Manjimup truffles are graded and sorted on respective farms before being sent both nationally and internationally.
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.
Manjimup's harvest season runs from the middle of June until the end of August and has a seasonal peak in July.

my new favo t shirt

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

Mako the Truffle dog

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
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.