The incredible inside story behind Orange's truffle pioneers

Back in the early 90s, Borrodell's Gaye Stuart-Nairne was looking for different produce to grow on their farm in Nashdale.

After a failed saffron experimentation she visited a potato farmer in Tasmania who was the first person to bring the famous fungi to Australia.

"We were there the day he found his very first truffle. It was very exciting," Ms Stuart-Nairne said.

After planting the trees and eventually finding truffles - the family wanted to host an event to bring people out to the farm in the depths of winter.

So she and her daughter Luisa Machielse decided to hold a "paddock to plate" event with a quirky twist.

The annual 'Black Tie and Gumboot Truffle Hunt and Dinner' has been running since 2007, starting with a small group of 35 to now boast over 100 people - the maximum amount of guests.

This 2024 event will be held on Saturday June 29 at Borrodell estate.

It's a formal event that incorporates a fancy dinner with the dirtiness of a truffle hunt, with guests arriving in their most glamorous formal wear and truffle hunting approved foot-attire - gumboots.

But to fit the fancy theme, guests spruce up their gumboots with jewels, lights and even ostriches, event organiser Ms Machielse said.

"We ask people to bling up their gum boots because there's a prize for the best gumboot and it's a fun thing that people are take very seriously," Ms Machielse said.

"There's a lot of bling and great imagination with people's gumboots - it's hilarious."

The guests then head to the oak trees and spend an hour with the truffle dogs and their trainer who will explain how the dogs help farmers find the truffles.

"The quirkiness of combining getting your hands dirty and rummaging through the dirt with the extravagance of doing it in a ball gown and top hat with gumboots - is just so fun," Ms Marchielse said.

The guests then have a four-course truffle-infused dinner by guest chef Aaron Ward, with Borrodell wine, charity auctions and a prize for the most spectacular gumboots.

"Every course will be saturated and truffles," she said.

"The truffle aroma in the room is just incredible and it's matched with Borrodell museum wines that we've been storing in the cellar for years."

Truffles are edible spores that grow on an underground fungus, they're often served grated or thinly sliced as an ingredient in fine-dining - costing between $2000 and $3000 per kilogram.

They grow from oak trees which have been inoculated with the spores of the truffle, along with the right soil and environment conditions - but this doesn't guarantee they'll produce truffles.

They take between 5 to 10 years to produce and the harvesting window for truffles is 6 weeks from June to July.

"There's still no guarantee no one really knows what method to use to produce the truffles and there's a lot of debate ... nobody's on the same page as to what will help you produce a truffle," Ms Marchielse said.

Dogs can be trained to find truffles, regardless of their breed.

While figuring out the truffle business, Ms Stuart-Nairne's family thought they'd be able to train a dog themselves.

So, they went to Canberra and picked up a airport customs dog named Spike, hoping it would have the snout to hunt for truffles.

"Spike had been trained to find drugs and airports and we thought it'd be really easy to just move that onto truffles," Ms Stuart-Nairne said.

"Spike ended up wanting food from the restaurant and being petted by customers, so we gave up on it."

Turns out Spike was actually sacked from customs, as he didn't meet the requirements.

Each year, the event also has a charity auction. This year Borrodell is supporting the Starlight foundation, where all proceeds of the auction will go towards fun experiences for terminally ill children.

The auction items include a family pass to Luna Park, voucher for dining at Bathers Pavilion in Balmoral, accommodation and helicopter flight at Borrodell and art work, to name a few.

The black-tie event kicks off the truffle season and is followed by more pared-back truffle hunts and luncheons on every Saturday afterwards, for the six-week season.