Australian truffles offer off season alternative
Selling Australian-grown Périgord truffles to French chefs may seem a foolhardy, even impossible goal, but that is exactly what The Truffle & Wine Co has successfully done.
Selling Australian-grown Périgord truffles to French chefs may seem a foolhardy, even impossible goal, but that is exactly what The Truffle & Wine Co has successfully done.
Why would French chefs resist having access to Tuber melanosporum, the second-most valued truffle, twice a year instead of once? There are many possibilities - pride, snobbery and disbelief that truffles from Australia could be as good as the French product, leading to an unwillingness to even taste the fungus. But recently there has been a change in attitude.
They are very similar in taste to those from Périgord, with an equal fragrance and aroma
"Last year we cracked the French market, and it is now in the top six of our biggest markets. We sold 500 kilos of Périgord truffles to French clients last year," says Shane Styles, vice-president of marketing at The Truffle & Wine Co.
This represents more than 10 per cent of the 2013 crop, which came in at approximately 4,300kg, with a forecast for this season (late May to September) of 5,500kg, which will account for around 60 per cent of the Australian truffle harvest.
Included in the new French client base is Restaurant Bruno in Lorgues, France, a Michelin-starred restaurant that is known for using more truffles than any other restaurant in the world, with a year-round focus on truffle tasting menus only.
Chef Umberto Bombana, of three-star Michelin restaurant Otto e Mezzo, has a summer black truffle menu available until the end of the season.
While Bombana has been purchasing truffles from The Truffle & Wine Co for four years, for the past two years he has only used that company to source his Australian truffles.