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The moss chambers in Pretoria where truffles are grown by scientists

Would you ever have considered having truffle and curry? (Photo: Supplied)

13 Sep 2024

What goes with truffles is money. That’s what people like to say, and it’s true enough but also involves a myth. What else goes with them at the table is very much about myth and expectation.

Around the fire pit on a mild Pretoria evening is a gathering of people from the various walks, looks and affluences of life. We are friends and associates of the two Musterion women, who are also the Dagutat women.

I’ll explain this while we hold our drinks glowing bright as the high flames. We’re sipping Inverroche Amber and tonic from 100ml glass triangle beakers, through recyclable little straws set alongside rosemary fronds.

Dagutat Science produces sustainable, mushroom-based, biological treatments to deal with diseases and mites in agriculture, instead of chemical pesticides, as well as natural fertilisers. We’re here, starting to have fun, outside the company premises in Koedoespoort, Pretoria. Dagutat is owned and run by two blonde scientists (I love saying that), Helga Dagutat, the microbiologist, and Nita Breytenbach, the plant physiologist, our hostesses.

Along with the drinks we have red snacks, like blooms. The petals are made of beetroot tortillas, the bloom centres of a turnip paste that includes a little bit of truffle. The petal layers sandwich Swiss Gruyère and black truffle. Everyone has seconds almost immediately.

The truffle used in the mixture is one of the many that Helga and Nita grow within their Musterion Craft truffles side of their business. It was a discovery and a hobby before it became a serious business. Their truffles are grown in ideal air and temperature conditions, in moss chambers. They are seemingly the first people in the world to do so. All truffles being used this evening are the real tuber melanosporum (ie Périgord truffles), all grown on the premises.

However, they also grow the tuber magnatum (the rarer white Alba truffle) and the now extremely rare and apparently endangered Namibian or Kalahari t-nabba, “coming on nicely though we haven’t had much time to devote to them”, Nita says.

No South African farmers are producing or can produce the Alba truffles. Of course, everyone wants this one because it costs more than gold, per ounce.

“It’s a bit like weighing and comparing the price of saffron with gold,” as my friend Adi says. Truffles are quite light things.

The concept is mindblowing, knowing that these are every bit as good as and sometimes better than any other similar truffle nosed out of the ground by pig or dog. As you may imagine, in their beginning there were those who were cynical of these products. I had some of my own who responded to posts and messages when I wrote about the Musterion truffles previously. I see this one has no published hater messages beneath it.

I didn’t particularly mind when truffle farmers and facilitators said that I had no f****n idea what I was writing about and that it was an absolute proven impossibility to produce truffles in a lab. I’d reply that they needn’t believe me but could easily go to Pretoria and see for themselves. However, I did understand their fears to do with putting life savings into farming mycorrhised or inoculated trees, which might or might not produce truffles below them in 15 years time.

They very much wouldn’t want it confirmed that there were two women with a foolproof, controlled way of growing superior truffles, clean of all the farming and gambling.

This time, when I contact some of the previous people I spoke to, with formerly negative responses, I’ll find that they are either out of the business or have combined farms with bigger businesses. The big truffle farming concern is now Woodford, with quite a few outlying areas also under trees, including the Cederberg now. Then there’s Rob Kemp of Bellvue in the Underberg who consults with the smaller truffle farmers all over the country, even in Krugersdorp, and has his own lab, his for production of mycorrhised trees.

Many truffle farmers do know of the Musterion Craft truffles and some follow them on Instagram, analysing the pictures of the ins and outs; however, they say they aren’t convinced that “the quality” and “the look” can compete with theirs. None have been to see for themselves yet.

The Musterion women are avid and cheffy cooks themselves, often cooking with other chefs interested in their truffles. They’ve been putting together this menu for a year, to celebrate their products and share them with friends. The theme this evening is Chlorophyll, and it hasn’t escaped me that both of them are dressed in green.

Their business, being wholly natural, though their truffles are grown in moss chambers in a laboratory-style environment, means they are connected to nature. Both women’s interests are in nature anyway, and as Nita says: “Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy from light, and where would we be without photosynthesis – and without our truffles.”

Our ‘plates’ have been individually hand drawn like a blackboard lesson with three truffled foods connected to chlorophyll. (Photo: Marie-Lais Emond)

Each of our “plates” for the first table course has been individually hand drawn by Nita like a blackboard lesson in chlorophyll and photosynthesis, with three truffled foods that have to do with chlorophyll.

There’s a feeling I often get when talking about these truffles to surprised people, that Musterion Craft truffles are regarded as otherworldly in some space-age sense because science, though natural, is applied. The same photosynthetic science applies to those truffles growing beneath trees with roots in the soil, but that link isn’t always noticed. They should regard one of these “plates”.

It’s something of one of those myths I’ve realised and think about while I polish off the edibles on the “lesson plate”. A dark green nori holds a creamy, truffley centre. Take that, sushi! An intensely green Selaginella, an edible kind of spikemoss, and truffle makes a moreish pesto with a helpful windowpane potato crisp. At the plate’s bottom right corner is a raw honey and essence of truffle, as a gel they’re calling a Dewdrop.

Selaginella, an edible kind of kind of spikemoss, and truffle makes a moreish pesto with a helpful potato crisp. (Photo: Supplied)

The essence comes straight out of the truffles here but the bittersweet raw honey is also super special, from Lyon Raw in Johannesburg where each honey harvest adheres to high and tight selection standards, directly sourced from small-scale beekeepers. Natasha Lyon is a honey sommelier and is here as a guest this evening. By the way, I’m stuck for a taste description of the dewdrop. I’m not bad at tasting truffles but, erm… dewdrops? I’ll offer: “So different you need another to make sure of whatever it is you think it might be.”

Selaginella, among other green herbs, makes up a lush, bright green, nibblable centrepiece running down our dinner table. (Photo: Supplied)

Selaginella, among other green herbs, makes up a lush, bright green, nibblable centrepiece running down our dinner table, laid with a plethora of utensils for the all-truffley dinner. This course has already challenged a myth that truffles shouldn’t be wasted or tasted on anything but butter and pasta, preferably together, or in scrambled eggs and omelettes.

Looking at the courses so far, they’ve all been unusually leafy, too (photosynthesis in evidence?).

The crisped leafy exterior of passion fruit leaves wraps a mystery, two really, that are the enigma. The riddle is which one contains truffle? Goat’s milk camemberts have been specially commissioned from a cheesemaker in Irene to be a certain size and thickness. We each get two little parcels, one baked with the truffle and one without. Crispy baguette accompanies them on the plates. We’re challenged to tell the difference and then to assess what that truffle adds to the dish and how, if at all.

One of the two goat’s milk camemberts getting its truffle before baking, for the taste challenge. (Photo: Supplied)

Nita laughs at more breaking of the “thou shalt not” truffle myth, but also says that it’s interesting to see how people behave with the challenge. They identify by bites or forkfuls which is the truffled camembert. Then they eat that one completely and carefully. Afterwards, they finish the other small camembert with the bread and wine. In this case, it’s a delicious Bartàs Chenin 2023.

Is it worth having truffle with camembert? The comparison is like adding seasoning to a boiled egg. It’s perfectly good as it is but there’s a marked taste upliftment with the addition. It’s not necessary but it’s nicer.

The use of the passion fruit leaves (also edible) leads my thoughts to another possible myth bust. There is an idea, and my ears can attest to it, that a so-called lab truffle would have a uniform taste, unlike one dug up and washed of earth, getting the terroir taste or that from growing in different soils. I’ve heard from Helga and Nita that their truffles, not exactly “lab truffles”, vary from one batch to another. In one day they could taste a distinct passion-fruitiness in one, whereas another leaned more to dark chocolate.

I make my way carefully, like a discoverer, through a cold dish with elements of an Italian tomato salad, but with lots nicer, more complex taste mingling. It’s a kind of masterclass in understanding taste. Simply, there are baked cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil added, already infused with a little garlic, ginger and chilli. There’s white feta combined with a green gel of parsley and coriander, cardamom and cumin. It arrives on a dust of Parmigiano-Reggiano and the black centre over the red of the otherwise green-and-white dish features a black mustard and nigella seed paste with the black truffle and more parsley verjuice. There was to be some warmed, aged Modena Balsamic butter in special little weighing lab glass funnels, but they got left behind in the kitchen.

Left: Preparing the cream cheese and microplaned truffle for baking the aromatic cheesecake. (Photo: Supplied) Many people know already that cauliflower and truffles are excellent buddies. Duck (right) is not far off. (Photo: Supplied)

I’ve been learning that truffles work surprisingly well with mustard, with cheeses no matter how strong, and can be served cold in small doses, though warm dishes are predictably great too. It tastes and is vulgar or in your face to have pure slices of truffle, except for exhibition purposes. The best for all purposes is to microplane it. Oops, there go a few more taste myths, all bust. Oh, and never presume that truffle oil is like a truffle or has anything to do with a good one.

I think many people know already that cauliflower and truffles are excellent buddies. Duck is not far off. For dinner we have all of them in one go. Into a pancake pouch, already tasty in its own right, have gone a cauliflower purée, black garlic, duck slowly cooked in verjuice, Cognac, rosemary, shimeji mushroom and all of it generously grated with the Périgord truffles of this evening, before closing the pouch. The shimeji stems appear on the plate to act as the stems for sweetly pickled onion petals, as flowers.

Just to underscore the mustard friendliness and mutual improvement, before I get to a couple of good shockers, the rainbow trout has baobab mustard with it and the mustard is truffled. Nita says they tried it both ways because there is already a little truffle in the black rice. After that tasting there was no chance of leaving it out. Interestingly, lemon and truffle really is a bad combination, so the sweet-sour of this baobab mustard-truffle is entrancing.

Would you ever have considered having truffle and curry? (Photo: Supplied)

Would you ever have considered having truffle and curry? In Durban a workmate of mine told me he was bringing me curried crayfish. I stared at him for a long time, I suppose, because I was thinking: Why? Why? Why? over and over. This is lamb curry and it’s arriving with ramen noodles. I can’t imagine.

The sambals aren’t quite what I expected either. They’re delicious though. I could eat these on their own. They’re a lot more exciting than most sambals anyway, being coconut and cranberry, kitchen-made date chutney, whipped avo, black sesame tahini.

Again there’s a thing, I’m told, that doesn’t work with truffles. It is turmeric. Helga worked out the curry spice, a green curry with fruity, creamy elements like green apple, pak choi, leeks, dates, coconut cream. With no turmeric anywhere. She got family and neighbours to taste the curry with and without the truffle. This is a mild curry, and even I can see what this truffle brings to what could be a playful curry. It’d be the very attractive and definite grown-up umami of it.

Truffle for pud? It’s been done but perhaps not as thoughtfully and competently as here in among the Musterion Craft truffles in their moss chambers. The cream cheese almost invited the microplaned truffle into it. Then it went into these filo cups they made specially, dripping gloops of the unsweet, precious Lyon raw honey before baking.

“The smell of the truffle was so absolutely wonderful during cooking!” enthuses Nita.

They’ve sourced good quality local Senqu River pistachios from Prieska and sprinkled them generously over the top for a baklava sort of taste idea, along with a further sprinkling of truffle. The result is luxuriousness, richness with not very much sweetness.

Helga says she really understands the romanticism of farmed truffles and the hunt. A lovely story, too, is what sells food, quite often what people want, says Rob Kemp. Some myths we do want and need.

These truffles, such as in this ultimate sort of cheesecake I’m enjoying with a ’96 Treviso Brut Prosecco, have the other advantages of being able to grow at all seasons other than in the forests. For some reason, they also last longer, maybe because there are no real contaminants and bugs where they come from. They could even assist by not reaping the world’s endangered and rare truffles. They are the perfect truffles and envy-making, so that the selling prices of Musterion Craft truffles are on a par with those of our local farmers, to be fair.

The two blonde scientists are aware of all the criticism and, obviously, of their advantages. Nita says, surprisingly, while we relax and look around at a very convivial table: “In a way this is a very lonely space to be in. It takes a lot of confidence to tell the world we can grow truffles and invite them to our table to taste and experience them.” DM

Musterion Craft™ Truffles, Koedoespoort, Pretoria https://www.instagram.com/musterion_craft_truffle/

Woodford Truffles SA, Hout Bay Cape Town https://woodfordtruffles.co.za/

Bellvue Truffles, Underberg, KZN https://www.bellvuetruffles.com/

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