KALAHARI TRUFFLES NAMIBIA | ÒÐÞÔÅËß ÍÀÌÈÁÈÈ |
Accommodation Namibia - Southern Region |
Kalahari Truffles are ripe in Namibia!
Kalahari truffle (Terfeziaceae sp., known as Mahupu in Tswana): one of the
most anticipated local food events in Namibia is the short truffle season that
comes after the main rainy season (January to March).
Locally known as !Nabas, these desert truffles do not have the same flavour as
their more famous and much-prized European counterparts.
Fortunately, however, they are also more affordable. Their culinary uses are extensive in savoury dishes, and if vacuum frozen or dried, they can be preserved quite successfully. They are available only for a few weeks each year, and appear and disappear almost overnight.
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Truffles, dubbed the ‘Kalahari truffles’ or traditionally known as "omatumbura" or "mavhumbura" - are nutritious delicacies that can bedazzle any plate and are much cheaper than you may think (depending on where you get them). The best time to find them is in March or April after the substantial rains.
These treats are washed several times, peeled, heated, and then added to a
bowl of spices to make a perfect meal.
Some people eat them ripe and raw
as they come, but after a good boil in water, they also make a great
addition as a side dish to your steak or fish. Thanks to their exotic
taste and aroma, they’re unlike any other around the world; but similarly
to those found in Europe, they are dug up from underground and have to be
treated with absolute care. The most useful way of finding them is by
spotting several cracks in the ground as the mushrooms are thick and
potato-like, but it’s still not as easy as it sounds.
Truffles can be easily found on the side of the road in the northern or north-eastern regions, where they are sold at cheaper prices. Grab a kilogram or more and create your own recipes at home - truffle butter is a delicious favourite.
Truffles are Hypogeous fungi, that is fungi that have their fruitbodies
growing below the ground. They exude an aroma that intensifies as they
ripen, attracting animals to unearth them and disperse their spores. This
centuries-old delicacy not only has forest fame but has also been sought
after in the souks of Syria since time immemorial.
The desert truffle, of the Hypogeous ascomycete family Terfeziaceae,
differs from its distant Tuber relative of southern Europe by favouring
arid soil, and is found in arid and semi-arid areas of the world including
the Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and Namibia.
Referred to as manna from the heavens by the Prophet Mohammed, as well as
by local Namibians, the desert truffle can be found growing in the
Kalahari Desert in the eastern section of the country.
Called both
omatumbula in the north and the Nama name of !Nabas in the east, the
Kalahari truffle, Terfezia pfeilii, is smooth like a potato and can be
eaten raw as well as cooked in a variety of ways, from baking in searing
sand to frying, and incorporated in speciality recipes concocted by
creative chefs in the restaurants of Namibia.
Truffles can be eaten raw, sliced with drizzled olive oil and parmesan
cheese or cooked and served as a starter or main dish. When in season,
truffle ragout or truffle ravioli in a champagne sauce are well known
specialities. Sautéd in butter with onions and a splash of white wine and
pepper, the truffles have a nutty mushroom taste. Added cream holds the
aroma and a few Swakopmund asparagus with a triangle of savoury seeded
pastry completes the delicious dish. White wine or a rosé accompanies the
treat, making the humble truffle a royal meal.
A rare delicacy, Kalahari truffles have a flavor somewhere between corn
and asparagus with a light “mushroomy” perfume. The texture is smooth and
firm (somewhere between a firmer mushroom and a soft potato), the flavor
nutty, buttery, earthy - subtle savory perfumes and floral hints of bush
grass are its essence.
The Kalahari truffle is beige to brown in color (matching its desert
environment) and can be eaten raw as well
as cooked in a variety of ways,
from traditional baking in searing sand to sauteing in butter and
incorporated in specialty recipes in a variety of forms (shaved, cooked,
or blanched).
Kalahari truffles grow close to the surface and are visible to the trained
eye of truffle collectors as cracks and protuberances in the red soil.
Like the termite-hill mushrooms omajowa, they grow in the wet season but
usually occur only when weather conditions are favourable, often later in
the season. Their partner plant is not the oak of the northern-hemisphere
truffle but the wild melon, with which the desert truffle forms a
symbiotic relationship.
The history surrounding desert truffles stems back thousands of years. In
the 1st century Africa’s truffles, dined on by Roman emperors, were
described by Pliny the Elder as ‘the most esteemed’. Folklore amongst the
Bedouins and North African Arabs holds that they appear without seeds or
roots, especially in places where lightning strikes, and are swollen by
rains and loosened from the desert sand by thunderstorms.
Besides being a nutritious meal, desert truffles have been used by the
Bedouins as remedies to cure ailments ranging from stomach complaints and
open cuts to eye infections. Today, modern medicine is exploring their
antibacterial and antiviral properties.
These treasured fungi, although thankfully not fetching the same
exorbitant price of the more aromatic European variety, have been valued
for centuries by desert-dwelling peoples. They have fed villagers through
times of famine and have been sung to by harvesting Bedouin girls on sandy
desert soil.
They combine with Namibia’s cuisine of rich game meat and fresh Walvis Bay oysters, to provide a rare culinary treat with their singular scent and distinctively Terfezia taste.
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