Farmer strikes pay dirt with droolworthy jewel
KITA the Jack Russell has a nose for the black diamond of the culinary world. Last week, he and his partner, Scratch, led their master, farmer Max Bastard, to the first truffle in KwaZulu-Natal.
Kita knows a good thing when he smells it, and finding the 97g truffle on the 20ha farm in Kokstad has whet the appetite of gourmands in South Africa.
Bastard is cultivating the biggest truffle orchard in the country.
Farmers sell the pungent fungus for about R12 000 a kilogram.
This week, three high-end Western Cape restaurants were able to offer patrons dishes featuring truffle, sourced from a farm in Langkloof in the Western Cape where 22 of the odd-looking delicacies were harvested soon after the KwaZulu-Natal discovery.
All the truffles were sold within hours.
Truffle spores are inoculated into tree saplings, which are then planted. It takes on average five years for truffles to grow around the base of the trees.
Bastard, a photographer, started his oak orchard four and a half years ago and is one of only a few South African truffle farmers; billionaire Johann Rupert is also one.
Bastard operates with the assistance of Volker Miros, head of Cape-based Woodford Truffles.
Truffle farmers were on the brink of opening a “massive market”, Miros said. “It’s going to be big. At best you’ll harvest 100kg of truffles per hectare at an average of à700 a kilo. At worst you’ll harvest 50kg. It’s silly money.”
Of course, Bastard has sampled his find. “I made scrambled eggs the traditional way with truffle shaved over the top. I’m no chef, but it totally transformed the dish,” he said.