Interview with Gary Lee: creator of the Australian Truffle Aroma Wheel

In this blog post, we've had the pleasure of chatting with the one and only Dr. Gary Lee. Now, I can almost hear you asking, "Who's this Gary Lee fellow?" Well, that's exactly why we sat down for a chat with him! Let me tell you, his work is like a breath of fresh air in the world of truffles, and if you're into cooking with truffles, this is a name you should definitely know. If you're a faithful follower of our blog, Gary Lee's probably already a familiar name to you. And if you've been truffle-ling around for a while, you might just be nodding your head in recognition. But for the uninitiated, there hasn't been all that much buzz about his fantastic work—until now, that is!

Our mind blowing interview with Gary Lee

Get ready to have your mind blown by interview with Gary Lee. Picture this: a psychologist and a chemist diving deep into the enchanting world of truffles. As you journey through our conversation, you'll stumble upon moments where Gary dishes out unexpected nuggets of wisdom; he left me wide-eyed and amazed several times. Then at other times he layered concepts that feelt like they were from a different galaxy altogether. I confess, I had to hit the replay button a few times, and each time, it was like I was unwrapping a captivating mystery. But here's your heads-up: this talk is like a treasure trove of information, so buckle up for a joyride of knowledge. And believe me, even with all the brain-bending, I couldn't get enough. To me, this interview is basically the shining star of the truffle season in 2023.

In the grand arena of our truffle experiments, Gary Lee not only shined a light of clarity but also sprinkled some wonder. He answered our questions about truffles from different trees but cheekily left a trail of new queries in his wake. The elusive "truffle wheel" had us scratching our heads, but Gary not only demystified it, he showed us how to make it work like a charm. Oh, and let's not forget about the truffle aphrodisiac myth—he laid that one to rest too.

So to make sure you don't miss out on any of Gary's wisdom, we thought the best medium to dive into his wisdom would be a podcast which we have posted to Spotify. To assist you further, below we have listed the subjects we covered and the podcast time stamps. Also below is the graphic we showed Gary reminding him of his work on aromas from different trees. You may have seen in in one of our previous blogs.

Compound of truffle from hazelnut trees

Compounds of truffles from oak trees

Well that is about it. Let’s get into it.

You can find the podcast here

Time line

0-16:44

1. Gary’s previous work on building sensors to detect explosives.

2. We look at his work in identifying the different aroma compounds

3. The development of the Truffle Aroma Wheel and a bit of flavour paring theory

16:44 28:04

1. How the brain makes sense of what your nose and tongue detects

28:04-38:37

1. How do truffles produce those aromas?

2. Do trees make a difference to truffle aroma?

38:37-48:17

1. Truffle myths including are they in fact an aphrodisiac?

48:17-50:43

1. My thank you to Gary Lee

50:43-51:56

1. Summary and good buy.

And that is it

Hope you enjoy the podcast. Please do share with your friends and if you feel so inclined a like is always appreciated.

Please stay safe and ciao for now.

Carmine