Black Gold

Alice does not speak dog. But when her silky English springer spaniel, Drake, tap-taptaps the dirt and gives her that look, Alice knows it means eureka. “He always leads us to the treasure,” says the owner of Beltana Farm, a boutique truffle orchard in Pialligo, a 10-minute drive south-east of the city. “In a stiff wind he might be off by a couple of centimetres but he’s never wrong.”

Canberra is truffle country, one of the few places outside of Western Europe – and the only Australian capital city – growing the Tuber melanosporum, or black truffle mushrooms, that are universally prized by chefs. “Our climate, swinging from hot summers to frosty winters, gives trees the kind of stress they need for root systems to grow healthy truffles,” notes Alice. From June through September, the hunt is on at the small handful of truffières that are speckled along the city’s semi-rural fringe. At Beltana Farm, that means a bucket, a spade, a bracing shot of schnapps and rambling around its 800 hazel and oak trees in search of a good, hearty stink.

That’s right – once you’ve disturbed the patch of soil Drake picks out, the funk will get you, too. “You can dig, get your hands dirty. Sometimes the truffle is buried 20 centimetres down.” Some people say the freshly unearthed fungi whiffs of kerosene or musky socks but “I think it’s a sulphuric asparagus-like scent,” says Alice. “Or it can even be nutmeg-y.”

James Souter from Beltana Farm’s rustic-luxe restaurant thinks they smell like delicious possibilities. “We like to use our truffles in ways that aren’t predictable,” he says. They’re always good when folded through licks of butter or microplaned into slivers atop silky eggs but truffles also add umami to lighterleaning dishes of poultry or squid. “We even put truffle in ice-cream,” grins Souter. “We’re about modern food inspired by the Australian landscape and, while we don’t put truffle in every dish from go to woah, we like to be creative with it.”

Beltana’s produce also shows up on seasonal menus at local restaurants such as Marble & Grain steakhouse and Filipino eatery Lolo and Lola. “Truffle doesn’t have to be fancy; it’s incredibly versatile and can elevate so many styles of cuisine,” says Souter.

Black truffles can fetch up to $2000 per kilo at market but Drake remains nonchalant about his position at the pinnacle of culinary luxury. “He’s pretty relaxed – probably because he only works six to eight weeks of the year,” laughs Alice.

Off duty, the pooch lolls around his 1.2-hectare domain, wandering over for a few scratchy pats if any guests are up for it and easing into the live music, sculpture trails and festival feel of the events that Beltana hosts throughout the warmer months. He isn’t wrong about that, either. For both dogs and humans, this is the good life.