Down to earth

Western Australia’s Southern Forests region is home to a bountiful natural larder, including truffles that grow in such abundance they’ve turned the region into the Southern Hemisphere’s truffle capital

- MAX BREARLEY

It’s a winter’s morning on Wilgarup River Farm, but grey skies and a downpour don’t deter Mel Booth as she guides Molly, her adopted Labrador, along the rows of oak and hazel trees. Native bush borders the 150-acre property in Western Australia, and in a nearby paddock, Highland cattle are grazing. Molly lightly paws the earth through a carpet of fallen leaves. Kneeling, Mel works the soil with a trowel, then her fingers, before uncovering our prize — a black truffle weighing about 30g.

This variety is most commonly known as Périgord truffle — named for the region in southwest France that’s traditionally been the hunting ground for this sought-after ingredient — but menus have also begun namechecking Manjimup, the closest town to here. Advances in mycology mean black truffle can now be cultivated — in both hemispheres. The Southern Forests area, 185 miles south of Perth, offers a similar climate to Périgord, which explains why it’s now the largest producing region in the Southern Hemisphere and the heart of Australian truffle country.

Molly’s find infuses the crisp air with a heady aroma of truffle, which is technically the fruiting body of a subterranean fungus that grows on inoculated tree roots. Described by some as smelling like socks and sex — or, more pleasantly, having notes of chocolate or book leather — it’s like a glass of wine: subjective. Whether I savour the aroma in an orchard or a kitchen, I pick up a primal earthiness, a forest-floor funk.