culinary journeys STORIES

Eat your heart out Tassie, your Kiwi cousins have been commercially viable since 1997. The tally for 2000, including two more newly producing truffières, one in Canterbury, and the other also on the East Coast of the North Island, is a total of 65 truffières located throughout New Zealand. The truffle plantations are located as far south as Alexandra in Central Otago and as far north as Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands.

Enter Alan and Lynley Hall, truffle growers who own Oakland Truffière in Gisborne, currently the only truffière in the Southern Hemisphere in commercial production. This 0.6 hectare Waipaoa silt loam block began producing in winter 1993, however commercial and saleable quantities of Black Gold (read, NZ grown, black Périgord Truffle, Tuber melanosporum) have only been available since 1997. The 1999 season produced the best ever - about 65 kilograms of truffle. It also delivered their longest season, spanning from May through to late September. As a second income, last years crop ended up SOLD OUT. The last few kilos of Gisborne truffle finished up on the lips of overseas dignitaries at one of the grand APEC dinners last year.

One serious private Gisborne investor is planning to plant ten hectares of oak and hazel trees in the near future. What has been formerly horticultural land will now be used for a substantially higher value crop. Gisborne recently topped the country with the highest economic growth rate of any region at 3.2% Who's to say what contribution this fledging truffle industry will contribute in say 25 years time?

Enter Dr Ian Hall, Crop and Food Research, Mosgiel. Ian is the New Zealand mycologist whose special interest in edible mushrooms and fungi led him to develop the technology to successfully produce truffles in New Zealand. He has two books to his name: The Black Truffle and Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms, An introduction. Ian's team are monitoring nine truffière blocks around New Zealand, including Oakland. Climatic conditions, soil pH (acidity) and soil moisture are measured using hi-tech data loggers, and tree growth is monitored as well.

Enter Dr Alessandra Zambonelli, University of Bologna, Italian truffle expert. Alessandra has visited Oakland truffière for the last two seasons. Her verdict: Black Gold is as good as they can grow in Italy. She was in New Zealand at the end of summer and is here again in July to observe progress. It has been reassuring to the New Zealand industry to have the collaboration with other truffle researchers with the international expertise such as Alessandra's as well as that of world expert Dr Jim Trappe of Oregon State University. Both have verified that the "grown in New Zealand" truffle is indeed the Périgord Truffle, Tuber melanosporum.

Last December I was fortunate enough to meet Jacques and Monique Pébeyre from Cahors. Pébeyre is the largest of two commercial French truffle grower/marketers. (If you have bought truffles from Simon Johnson, you've probably had Pébeyre truffles). What was happening locally had obviously sparked sufficient interest from this unassuming and genteel Frenchman for him to come to New Zealand. Intrigued to see how the local industry was developing, he too made a visit to Oakland truffière. His verdict: Unlikely to affect the French industry for quite a while however production of out-of-season truffle to supply the Australasian and Northern Hemisphere markets was a feasible long term investment which could provide competition for the French in generations to come.

Getting back to Oakland truffière, Gisborne. This season started in mid May and with the long Indian summer we have had, the season is off to a great start. The Hall's have orders from private individuals to fulfill and restaurateurs who are happily paying and not quibbling about the $NZ3000 per kilogram.

Enter the New Zealand Truffle Association, set up in 1991 with the aim to assist in the development of the local industry and to build a cooperative relationship between growers, investors and those with a keen interest in the industry. With commercial production coming on stream, marketing will be a priority area, given that the primary purpose is to produce truffles for supplying overseas markets during the Northern Hemisphere off-season. Through a significant grant funded by Technology New Zealand, the association has been able to contract Crop and Food Research to investigate the factors that trigger fruiting by the Tuber melanosporum fungus and advance research in the technology for optimising truffle production.

Not only has the local truffle industry stimulated interest from growers in the rural sector, but it has also encouraged Canterbury property developer, Tim Archibald, to offer 16 five acre lifestyle sections. To those who are looking to combine a home in a parkland setting with your own 0.33 hectare truffière planted in about 200-210 trees on the property, Archibald has a 90 acre Ohoka block in North Canterbury that he is offering to investors. He is working closely with NZ Crop and Food who will provide the technical support and back-up, and will supply the truffle infected hazel and oak trees that will be used to plant out the truffières. Further blocks in the North Island have been identified for development. Stage two will be to offer blocks purely for investment in truffles. These ventures may well be a better investment proposition than a lifestyle block growing olives.

Perhaps those who have had their fingers burnt in Australia, need to look across the ditch and learn a lesson. For a young industry to prosper there needs to be a supportive infrastructure and strong industry partnerships with a constant reminder to value what would be at stake if it all falls apart through greed.

References
The Black Truffle by Hall, Ian R. et al. Published by NZ Crop & Food Research Limited, 1994. ISBN 0 478 04670 7
Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms: An introduction by Hall, Ian R. et al. Published by NZ Crop & Food Research Limited, 1998. ISBN 0 478 04697 9