Whether you imagine a chocolate or a mushroom a truffle is sure to be something fragrant that dissolves in your mouth. The savory one, though gets attention around the world.
I grew up mushrooming in the Czech Republic but I came to Alba for a different kind of “shrooms.” These are no baby bellas and they don’t show off above ground. Truffles are mushrooms on steroids hiding under the ground as if they wanted to increase the anticipation by making you work for it.
Truffles are not made equal
There are 4 different types of truffles The white truffle (Tartufo Bianco) is the most precious. It is picked from September to January. Black truffle (Tartufo Nero) can be found from November to March. Bianchetto truffle is less common. Black summer truffle is a delicacy that is ready to be found from June to November. All of them grow at the roots of different trees and need enough rain and cool autumns to grow.
Touring the Alba headquarters
Tartuflanghe in Alba is the largest truffle company in Piedmont and the second largest in Italy. They source about 1,000 kilograms of white truffles and 11,000 kilos of black truffles per season. The current price of white truffles is around 5,500 EUR a kilo compared to 1,000 EUR for black truffles. I tried the company’s products at the restaurant show in New York and got the desire to hunt for truffles myself. Barbara connected me with her Alba team and scheduled a solo tour. Currently, visitors can book tours for 6 or more people.
Dressed in blue, disposable coat and show covers, I went on a tour of the family-owned, 45-person company. We passed the owner Beppe and his daughter weighing and packaging truffles for distribution. Most of them are shipped to restaurants, both local and international. They are packed on ice and are best used within a week.
The ground floor of the company is designated to making truffle olive oils and freeze drying, which is the best method to preserve white truffles. The mushrooms are placed in a vessel separate from odorless ice, slowly dried for a week and sold in glass jars. All products, from sauces to honeys, are made onsite. Pesto jars are hand-filled, weighted, passed through a metal detector and machine-sealed. The truffle pasta was invented by Beppe who used to own a restaurant.
The top floor is actually where truffles arrive first. White truffles are gently cleaned of debris, leaving a thin coating of dirt, which is removed with a wet cloth just before serving. Black truffles are passed through a water-filled machine. The dirty water is brought back to the forest and poured on the ground, supporting the habitat.
Lastly, there is the chocolate room. Tartuflanghe makes 9 different flavors of chocolate, one of them being black truffle-shaped and flavored.
May the truffle hunting begin
Truffle hunting used to be done with the help of pigs. They sniffed out the tubers better than dogs. Their disadvantage was that they would eat them or dig for anything else to devour while they destroy the ground. Dogs are more gentle and easier to train.
Female dogs are trained for a year, male dogs for 2-3 years. Trainers rub puppies with truffle oil to get them used to the smell. They teach them to dig them out but not eat them by rewarding both dogs with cookies. Dogs hunt for 3-4 hours at a time. The hunter follows them, smells the ground and uses a special tool to help retrieve the truffles. It is important to cover up the holes in order for the roots to grow again.
White truffles grow deeper then black truffles. Unlike regular mushrooms, which grow until someone picks them, truffles only grow to a certain size and stay that way until they are found. As soon as they are ready to be picked they start releasing their signature aroma. That also means that they are ready to reproduce. Tartuflanghe has their private territory but they also hunt elsewhere and supplement their finds with truffles from other hunters.
Let ’em eat truffles!
To round up the truffle hunting experience, I got to taste the fruit of our labor (Perla and Machia’s labor)! Back at the headquarters, there was a table set for me with a selection of truffle products as well as a glass of wine of my choice. The 2021 Barbera d’Alba complemented the aromatic bites of black truffle chips, fonduta, olive tapenade, nuts and honey. My favorite were the truffle pearls that burst on the tongue like caviar, releasing truffle liquid. I would’t leave without a sweet ending. The white chocolate-pistachio and milk chocolate-amaretto truffles are a real treat!
Alba White Truffle Fair
Located in the heart of the Langhe region of Piedmont, Alba is recognized as the white truffle capital, hosting a month-long, annual fair dedicated to the aromatic tuber since 1929. During this year’s 93rd international festival, foodies could try truffle products as well as excellent wines and hazelnut confections.
