EARTHY PLEASURES

Remember the last time you experienced black truffle? Not the overpowering odour of chemically derived truffle oil. But the heady, forest-floor fragrance of native European tuber melanosporum, the Périgord truffle. Or as it’s known when cultivated here, the Australian black truffle.

Now, try and put your sense memory into words. Struggling to find descriptors? You’re not alone. Humans have been savouring truffles for three millennia, yet it’s still no easier to sum up the appeal.

“What does a truffle smell like? That’s probably the hardest question to answer,” says Gavin Booth of Australian Truffle Traders. Booth and wife Mel are some of Australia’s most experienced growers. The pair started out in the industry training dogs to hunt truffles and fell for the lifestyle. Their Southern Forests truffière sits in Western Australia’s truffle country, Manjimup, 300 kilometres south of Perth.

“It all starts when you kneel down in the