Kōwhai Park in Whanganui to play host to culinary treasure hunt for Italian truffles

Dogs and their owners will be in Whanganui's Kōwhai Park on the hunt for a truffle.

Whanganui’s Kōwhai Park will play host to a culinary treasure hunt, with dogs and their owners looking around the park as part of a truffle hunt.

The hunt will take place on Saturday, July 15 from 10.30am to 12.30pm and is hosted by Bianchetto NZ director Konrad Hickson.

The company is based out of the Whanganui region, growing Tuber borchii, Italian white truffles.

Hickson said he ran a similar event in Frank Kits Park in Wellington, so decided to bring the hunt to Whanganui.

“I thought it combines quite nicely with Whanganui because we’re producing and also it’s just a heap of fun for someone to get to understand the business and the industry and run their dog,” he said.

The hunt centres around the smell truffles emit during their harvesting season.

“Come June to September, they give out an odour,” Hickson said.

Humans can’t detect the smell very easily but both dogs and female pigs can, as it smells like male pig hormones.

“The standard joke in the truffle industry is ‘how many fingers do you have?’ if you have a pig, so those that want to keep our fingers use dogs.”

The event is open to any registered dog owners with no prior experience in truffle hunting needed as basic training will be given on the day.

The basic training at the event will have the truffle hidden under a plant pot or a pile of leaves for the dog to try to find.

Once each dog has had a go at training, the hunt will revolve around one truffle hidden in the park, and whoever finds it can take it home.

Hickson said their last event was a great time for both the dogs and owners so he hoped it to be the same this time around.

“It’s like a treasure hunt, it’s wonderful to watch,” he said.

“People get into it, it’s competitive but in a nice way.”

The event would also teach those taking part about the truffle industry.

“It’s not as easy as running an orchard where you can just pick them when the season comes, it’s a lot more involved,” he said.

He also hoped the person who won the truffle would get a culinary experience once they took it home.

“We’ll give them some ideas on how to use that truffle, they might use it with some cheese, or they might cut it over some pasta, they might run it through some mash potatoes or just put it on some steaks.”

Entry to the event is $10 per dog, with a maximum of 50 dogs allowed for the event.

Payment can be made on the day.