16 July 2014

Farmers Market Matters and Turalla Truffles

| Susan Hutchinson
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Are you going to the Capital Region Farmers Market this weekend? I sure am. My favourite beef producer, Gilmore Braes Heritage Beef, has added New Zealand ‘oca’ yams to their range. These nutritious little root vegetables look a bit like legless witchetty grubs but heavens they taste great! I’m going to buy another handful, boil them simply and serve with a little melted butter. They have a nutty flavour and make an easy substitute for potatoes. Beetroot are also amazing at this time of year. Buy them super fresh and add the sweet young leaves to a salad. Cut the stems and larger leaves up and treat them like rainbow chard. Have you ever thought about grating the beetroot tuber to make a little patty? Beetroot patties are incredibly versatile. They make a great breakfast topped with a poached egg and some za’atar, or a meat free meal with some rocket and goat cheese. They’re also a great and fun way to get kids to eat their veggies.

I love that the Capital Region has a thriving truffle industry. Growing truffles is quite a magical and mysterious enterprise. Two truffieres have stalls at the Capital Region Farmers Market. Damian Robinson, from Turalla Truffles has a truffiere on their farm cattle farm near Bungendore.

damien-robinson
Damian Robinson, from Turulla Truffles, smelling one of his truffles, fresh from the earth.

The wonderful thing about truffles is their fragrance. As soon as Damian lifts his glass klosh on the truffles he brings to market, the fragrance is intoxicating. Even the earth around a truffle is imparted with this fragrance as it grows. It’s how Three Spot, Damian’s truffle dog, knows which trees are home to the underground truffles, and it’s how Damian knows where to dig to pull a ripe truffle out of the ground. If you’d like to learn more about truffles, you can join a local truffle hunt throughout the season.

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