{"id":113195,"date":"2016-05-19T07:29:13","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T11:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin-fsmag.paceinteractive.com\/?p=113195"},"modified":"2017-09-06T16:43:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T20:43:25","slug":"australian-truffles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fourseasons.com\/magazine\/taste\/australian-truffles\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unexpected Season: Truffles in August"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI always choose the liveliest dog in the pound,\u201d says truffle-dog trainer Simon French as Mandy, a cross-breed border collie, eagerly zigzags through English oak trees planted over the past 15 years. Every time Mandy paws the ground, French throws down a washer with coloured ribbon. Although only a few trees have washers at their bases, one particularly dwarfish tree has almost a dozen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I like to see,\u201d says Marcus Jessup, the farm manager, while browsing the grove at Tamar Valley Truffles<\/a>. He bends down and sniffs the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one seems ready,\u201d he says. Jessup gingerly digs around the washer with a knife, uncovering a black bulb the size of a golf ball. He removes it with the care and precision of a heart surgeon.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tamar Valley Truffles sits on approximately 8 hectares and has nearly 3,000 oak trees. Farm manager Marcus Jessup (second from left) and farmer and marketing manager John Baily (far right) stroll through the groves with family and trained truffle-hunting dogs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Photography courtesy Philip Kuruvita<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n