Truffles on billionaire’s farm bring joy, fuel local industry

THE fungi are ugly, wrinkly and smelly, but the Jack Russell-cross named Clyde who discovered the first black winter truffle in the Western Cape has helped confirm the country can grow these valuable tubers.

Clyde’s 200g black truffle had been growing for six years under an oak tree on the Altima wine farm near Franschhoek owned by billionaire Johann Rupert, the chairman of luxury goods maker Richemont.

Cape Town-based Woodford Truffles, the firm that inoculated English oaks with mycelium spores and planted them in Altima’s orchards in 2009, thinks South Africa can reach annual sales of R250 million within 10 years.

“This is the beginning,” Volker Miros, the head of Woodford Truffles, said last week. “We have now found five truffles in two orchards in the last two weeks. We put the dogs in, and bingo. Six orchards are planted and if we get 10kg next year we’ll be very happy.”

Woodford Truffles enters joint-venture agreements with farms where the ground gets cold enough in winter to allow the tubers to develop.

It is not the only company in the game – African Truffles started inoculations four to five years ago with three different species which are already showing early signs of success, according to Leon Potgieter who runs the enterprise.

South African-grown fresh black winter truffles should fetch about R22 000 per kilogram, Potgieter said.

“We hope to be able to do 50kg per hectare and we’re expecting to go to 500 hectares at least,” Miros said. “We have six farms signed up with another 12, maybe, signing up this year.”

Winning Weimaraner

African Truffles said it had 24 hectares in production with a new contract from a European company for a further 30 hectares. There are also farmers who have set up on their own. Cameron Anderson, who has land in the trout-fishing region near Dullstroom, inoculated his trees seven to eight years ago and last August his Weimaraner, called Shammy, unearthed the first black winter truffle.

“We were lucky and got four out last year and about the same so far this year,” Anderson said on Friday. “The trees need about 12 years in the ground before there’s massive production.

“Until then there are enough top restaurants and hotels in South Africa that will take everything we have.”

One thing all the farmers have in common are the use of truffle-hunting dogs. Clyde and his pal Bonnie, another Jack Russell-English Beagle cross, were trained by Woodford Truffles. To teach them, they were given treats every time they found a buried object that had been doctored with truffle oil, said Miros.

The dogs did not have to be expensive breeds, they just had to have good noses, Miros said. There was a successful Australian truffle farmer who even used American Pit Bulls, he said.

“From 2016 the first orchards from Volker will start to come into fruition,” Potgieter said. “We have one of the best climates for truffles with high altitudes, low temperatures, water, solar radiation. It’s going to be amazing.” – Bloomberg

South African-grown fresh black winter truffles should fetch about R22 000 per kilogram.