<\/p>\n
Gavin and Mel Booth with the rare find from their huge backyard. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle<\/p>\n
An Aussie man\u2019s backyard dig uncovered something no one else on this side of the continent has \u2013 with an insane price tag.<\/p>\n
Gavin Booth was digging under stone pine trees he\u2019d during the pandemic when he made the rare find \u2013 white truffles worth $3,000 a kilogram.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst ones ever dug up in Western Australia. It\u2019s a good day,\u201d was how he described the feeling.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gavin Booth with the truffles that were the size of both palms. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gavin Booth with the rare truffles that have a garlicky aroma. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle<\/p>\n
All up, Mr Booth, co-owner of Australian Truffle Traders in Manjimup, unearthed 1.5 kilograms of bianchetto white truffles \u2013 a rare variety prized for its pungent garlicky aroma.<\/p>\n
The discovery was made on Tuesday, 300km south of Perth in the heart of WA\u2019s Southern Forests region.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst white truffle found in Western Australia? Definitely the first one found by us! Tuber borchii has a distinctive garlicky, bulb aroma \u2026 Pasta tonight!,\u201d he said <\/p>\n
Mr Booth and wife Mel said they and \u201cright hand gal Loz\u201d were \u201csooooo happy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c20 years in truffles and being one of the very first to do white borchii truffle is a special feeling,\u201d the couple said on Instagram.<\/p>\n
Chefs from as far away as Spain and Denmark expressed interest publicly within hours, with congratulations pouring in from all corners of the globe.<\/p>\n
Mr Booth told Perth Now that \u201cwithin hours of posting our find on social media, I had interest from chefs from Sydney to San Francisco. I expect there\u2019ll be some demand for these white beauties.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The truffles are worth $3,000 a kilo. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle<\/p>\n
While Australia \u2013 and Manjimup in particular \u2013 is widely known as the southern hemisphere\u2019s epicentre of the black P\u00e9rigord truffle, producing around 80 per cent of all black truffles grown south of the equator, the bianchetto white variety had until now only been grown in a handful of places on the eastern seaboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruffles are fickle to grow. You cannot rush them and you cannot force them, so to have some white ones finally appear feels like the land is letting us in on a secret,\u201d Mr Booth said.<\/p>\n
Fellow Australian growers were quick to celebrate the find, with Adelaide Hills Truffle Company \u2013 which has been harvesting bianchetto on its own South Australian farm since 2021 \u2013 among the first to congratulate the pair. <\/p>\n
Australia has a quietly growing bianchetto community, with growers including Red Hill Truffles, Tartufo White, The Truffle Barn, Red Ground Australia and Quercus Truffles all named as established producers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are quite a few established growers in Australia now which is exciting,\u201d Adelaide Hills Truffle Company wrote. \u201cBianchetto for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Australian Truffle Traders \u2018right-hand gal Loz with Mel Booth and their rare find. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gavin and Mel Booth with the rare find from their huge backyard. Source: Instagram\/@australiantruffle An Aussie man\u2019s backyard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-760784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}