ONE of the food world’s most sought after delicacies, the humble truffle, is gaining popularity in the Tarago area.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Denzil Sturgiss and his wife Anne grow them through their business Tarago Truffles at their property ‘Gap Hill’ approximately 3kms south of Tarago.
However, they are not just restricted to the Southern Tablelands. Truffles can be grown as far north as the Southern Highlands, south down to the Snowy Mountains and even as far west as Blayney and Orange.
Tarago Truffles are just one of a number of trufferies who are taking part in the Canberra Region Truffle Festival, which officially started on June 21 and will be running through until early August.
The Sturgiss’ family business was established back in 2002 when Mr Sturgiss, also a Goulburn Mulwaree Councillor, started planting varieties of oak tree to get truffle production underway.
“We planted our first hectare on November 29, 2002 and the next year we planted two more hectares,” he said.
“Then in 2008 and 2009 we planted another six hectares, so we’ve been in it for a while now.” Altogether the farm stretches over nine hectares with over 4,300 trees planted.
“Truffles are certainly a beautiful product and are wonderful to eat as a food enhancer,” Mr Sturgiss said.
“The dollars and cents side is also a big attraction, as a decent sized truffle can cost upwards of $100 or more.”
Mr Sturgiss’ wife Anne explained what it was about truffles that appealed to her.
“There’s definitely a ‘mystique’ about the truffle that appeals to me and I like most of the people who are involved in the industry,” she said.
“It’s given us the opportunity to meet new people and strike up new friendships, which has been great.
“We also conduct regular truffle hunts here at Tarago Truffles and I love meeting the people who come and want to find out what it’s all about, especially families and young kids.”
Their dogs Utah, Lily and Dusty are also a vital part of the team, as they sniff out the best locations around the farm for the best truffle.
The ‘truffle hunts’ are held every Saturday during the season with interest from all ages ranging from small kids through to over 65s.
Hunts (which incur a cost per person) include one to one-and-ahalf hours following the truffle harvesters and the dogs, and the opportunity to get down and dirty and help to dig for truffles.
“The youngsters and nearly everybody love doing that part!” Mrs Sturgiss joked.
“Then they come down to what we call the ‘Truffle Shed’ and I show them how to clean and grade the truffle, and then we sit down together and have some homemade soups and crusty bread with truffle butter and shave some fresh truffle over the top of the soup and generally just have a bit of a yarn.”
Tarago Truffles also sources their product to Berry restaurant Silos which is becoming well known around the South Coast with a chef called Nick Gardiner, formerly of the Quay Restaurant and Tetsuya’s in Sydney’s CBD.
“I’m posting out to him this afternoon as a matter of fact,” Mrs Sturgiss said.
“At the moment I’ve also got some people interested at the Bambini Trust in Elizabeth St in Sydney’s CBD, as well as Wine Nomad at Surry Hills. They attract what I call the young, upwardly mobile and ‘cashed up’ customers and so we’re getting good responses from them.”
They also sell to what they call ‘private foodies’ and process online orders as well.
“We also try and sell to the fresh food places like the Farmers Markets at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) when possible,” she said.
“And we also back-up other people who might be running short of truffles, so we go through a few distributors.”
Mr Sturgiss said that by far their biggest event of the year is the ‘Blessing of the Truffle Dogs’, which is usually held on the weekend after the June Queen’s Birthday holiday.
“We secure the services of ex- Bishop of the Armed Forces the Reverend Tom Frame who does a wonderful job,” he said.
“We had 74 people here to witness that this year, which was fantastic.”
For more information on Tarago Truffles, contact Mr and Mrs Sturgiss on 4849 4605, or on the mobile on 0434 216 342.