Snuffles For Truffles

Every autumn, the white-truffle hunters of Piedmont, Italy, are out in force seeking the prized fungus that is often worth its weight in gold. Andrew Marshall joins them

I t’s an early October morning on the outskirts of the hilltop town of Montechiaro d’Asti, near Turin. The sun has yet to illuminate the ploughed fields, russet-coloured hedgerows and wooded glades, but already the pre-dawn landscape is alive with the snuffle and bark of eager dogs.

It’s the beginning of the truffle-hunting season and experienced truffle hunters LuigiFaletti and Guiseppe Tyrone are leading their keen-nosed hounds, Chico and Tom Cruise, in search of Tuber magnatum pico, the prized white truffle and one of the most expensive foods on planet, costing around €3,800 per kilo.

The truffle grows almost exclusively in Italy and northern Croatia, but it’s generally agreed that the world’s best come from Piedmont. Their unique flavour and aroma make them sought after by chefs and food lovers, and their rarity creates a lucrative industry for just four months each year (typically October–January) in the otherwise quiet backwater towns and villages of the region, particularly around Turin, Alba and Asti.

It’s difficult to imagine a more tranquil occupation than truffle harvesting. The tools of the trade for “trifolao”, the dialect term for truffle hunters/pickers, include a spearshaped instrument called a “vanghetto” to clear the earth, knowledge of the white truffle habitat and a well-trained dog, some of which even graduate from the University for Truffle Hunting Dogs in Alba. Training can begin when a puppy is born, with truffle oil being rubbed on the mother’s teats, fostering an early addiction to the expensive fungus.

“The best place to look for truffles is in damp woods, where they grow in symbiosis with the roots of oaks, elms, willows, poplars and hazelnut bushes,” says Luigi, as he keeps a keen eye on Chico, who is avidly sniffing at a leafy patch of earth under a willow tree. “Truffle harvesting takes place from dusk until early morning, because the aroma is more intense at this time and the dogs have a better chance of detecting it.”

The fungus and the tree exchange minerals through the roots, and it takes 10 years or more for an oak tree harbouring the fungus to produce a harvest of truffles. Unlike aboveground mushrooms that grow in a few days, white truffles are underground fungi needing a minimum of seven–eight months to develop, before they reach full maturity. “They’re usually found about 10cm–15cm underground and it can often take many hours’ searching to locate one,” says Guiseppe. “It’s certainly not guaranteed.”

Big as a pumpkin
Truffles can grow to the size of a potato and, in some exceptional cases, the size of a small pumpkin. Guiseppe shows me a knobbly, walnutsized one that Tom Cruise has located earlier. He cuts it open with his penknife to reveal a marbled interior – tan, with creamy, ivory veins. As it first hits my senses, the smell is intoxicating – fungal, peppery and garlicky, but equally reminiscent of the musky earth it comes from.

The value of commercial truffles means strict laws are in place controlling their collection. There are about 6,000 truffle pickers in Piedmont and each one, on completion of an exam, must pay an annual fee for a yearly license, allowing them to search for truffles legally. However, many go undetected without the official paperwork.

Co-operatives of landowners control truffle hunting on their property and, unless you are a member, you can be arrested for collecting truffles from co-operative truffle beds. Montechiaro d’Asti has the largest truffle reserve, or “tartufai”, in Italy – 5ha managed by the Conzorzio Trifolau Valle Fameria of Montechiaro, which is in charge of keeping the wooded area clean and signposted.

Picking is a strictly a male pursuit, and traditionally truffle hunters are elderly farmer landowners and shopkeepers. Yet in recent years there’s been a revival of interest, with a younger generation getting involved in the potentially lucrative activity. Not surprisingly, when the stakes are so high, hunters jealously guard the location of individual truffle finds, and picking can be as secretive as a James Bond mission. Some will even park their vehicles in a prominent place, then cycle miles in the opposite direction to throw competitors off the scent.

White diamonds
Once the truffles have been coaxed from the ground, they are sold to local shops, markets and restaurants. The hunters don’t consume many themselves – it’s their business after all – but do indulge on special occasions. Every year as the season rolls by, people flock to Piedmont for their annual fix of the white diamonds, and for this brief period, most restaurants have the truffles available, with some dedicating whole menus to them. Many of the best truffles are exported, destined for the tables of fine restaurants in New York, London and Tokyo. For a premium, flawless truffle, the price per gram is similar to that of gold.

One thing that all chefs agree on is the absolute necessity of keeping it simple. Unlike the less prestigious black truffle, the white variety must never be cooked, but always be consumed raw. Because most of the white truffle’s flavour lies in its unique, subtle and lingering aroma, it is best shaved tissue-thin with a special grater over simple dishes like risotto, pasta, salad or velvety scrambled eggs.

Italians even eat slivers of it on good white bread, washed down with a crisp white wine. Some regional dishes where it appears include carne cruda (raw, diced beef), fonduta, a creamy fondue made with melted cheese, milk and eggs served over toast, and fresh egg pasta called tajarin – all of course topped with shaved truffles.

Truffle fair
Italians have paid annual homage to their indigenous white truffle since 1923 at the annual white truffle fair, the Fiera del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba, held throughout the autumn from the last week of September in the turreted medieval town of Alba.

Near the entrance to the fair’s main tent are huge photographs of Italian celebrities sniffing the prized fungus – Giorgio Armani, Luciano Pavarotti and Sophia Loren among them. Inside, the air is thick with the unmistakable whiff of opulence. Fresh truffles of various sizes sit in velvetlined cases like precious jewels, with tags attached showing their price per gram. A grape-sized specimen costs approximately €19, while a medium, potato-sized one costs around €221.

Locals and visitors rub shoulders with extrovert chefs and rich restaurateurs doing deals on premium truffles. Long rows of booths display products such as truffle butter, truffle liver pâté, truffle oil and truffle honey. At a truffle assessment point run by experts, you can have your truffles valued for quality and price.

The Alba truffle fair closes with an exclusive charity auction at Grinzane Cavour Castle, just outside of town. It’s like a truffle version of the Eurovision Song Contest, with the castle linked by satellite to Berlin and Hong Kong. Glamorous women wander among an audience of glitzy celebrity types and chefs, carrying the white diamonds on silver platters, amid furious bidding. At the auction, each truffle is authenticated right down to its exact weight, the name of the truffle hound that found it and the type of tree it was found under. The 2006 auction saw 1.59kg of truffle, made up of three truffles, sell to an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong for €107,315 – that’s €67,494 a kilo, four times the average price of gold.

Sampling the range of foods and culinary experiences that the Piedmont region has to offer could easily fill a lifetime, but it’s the white truffle that reigns supreme. In a small rustic eatery down a quiet backstreet in Alba, a waiter shaves slivers of Tuber magnatum pico over a simple pasta dish. Inhaling the unmistakable aroma, I raise a glass of Barolo red to Piedmont’s truffle country – gourmet travel at its very best.

Black truffles vs white
There are many types of truffles – the white truffle is Tuber magnatum pico. It grows wild, cannot be reproduced and is much sought after. The black truffle, Tuber melonosporum, is less prestigious, but still valuable. There is also a variety that can be reproduced through mycorrhization. White truffles are worth about 10 times more than black varieties.

Black truffles generally grow in the Périgord area of France, where they are hunted by pigs. But they are also found in Italy, Spain and Croatia. The more valuable white truffles are hunted by dogs for a few reasons – they can be trained to find, but not eat the truffles, and are much easier to get into the back seat of a car.

White truffles must be eaten raw by shaving them paperthin over dishes like pasta and risotto, unlike their black cousins, which must be cooked by adding to foods such as casseroles, sauces, pâtés and omelettes.

Fact file

GETTING THERE: Fly to Turin with Ryanair, then hire a car to start exploring.
WHERE TO STAY: Finding rooms in Alba during the festival can be difficult. But, you could try the Pollenzo complex at the nearby town of Bra, birthplace of the Slow Food movement. There’s a hotel, Michelin-starred restaurant, wine bank and the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Tel: +39 017 245 8600, www.albergoagenzia.it. Also try Villa San Carlo (www.hotelsancarlo.it), and Locanda del Sant’ Uffizio (www.thi.it).
HUNTING TRIPS: Most hotels around Alba will be able to arrange special excursions, as will the National Truffle Study Centre (tel: +39 017 335 833, www.tuber.it). BEST TIME TO GO: All year round, but the optimum time for finding the best truffles in the restaurants and experiencing the last weeks of the Alba Truffle Fair is around late October–early November (www. fieradeltartufo.org / www.piemondo.it).