Celebration of black truffle
Region’s new festival to wave in fresh industry
TRUFFLE lovers in Toowoomba will be frothing ahead of Queensland’s first festival dedicated to the magical and stinky fungus.
Truffle Discovery Centre owner Matt Hibberd, who trains sniffer dogs to find truffles, will host the inaugural event in Stanthorpe on August 5.
Along with dog demonstrations, guests will be able to try food from top chefs like Josh Lawson and Ash Martin.
Mr Hibberd, who has been slowly developing truffles as both an export and tourism industry in Stanthorpe, said demand for the expensive and highly-prized food from overseas had been overwhelming.
He said this was because the Southern Downs and Granite Belt offered shorter transit times to foreign markets like England and Asia during the northern hemisphere’s summer months.
“It’s been frustrating because we’ve had people inquiring about shipping boxes and boxes to Indonesia or Europe,” he said.
“The reason we’re getting those inquiries is that they have a short shelf life, so they can either be shipped from Wellcamp Airport to Hong Kong or from Brisbane to England.
“That’s how desperate they are globally. There’s yearround demand.
“We’re struggling to supply at the moment, but next year we’re pretty confident we’ll have more available.”
This year’s truffle season has been tough, with dryer conditions at the wrong time and grower inexperience producing a smaller harvest.
But Mr Hibberd, who has become a “surrogate botanist” for the farmers in the area, said he expected it to change.
The Tartufo Festival will run on Sunday, August 5 at the Truffle Discovery Centre on Church Rd just outside Stanthorpe.
For more information and tickets, head to www.trufflediscoverycentre.com.au.