Truffle cookery holiday in Abruzzo!
White truffle season is just round the corner, and that also just happen to be Frui favorite month of the year!
So what exactly is a white truffle you ask?
A truffle is a fungal fruiting body that develops underground, Almost all truffles are found in close association with certain types of trees and soil.
There are hundreds of species of truffles, but the fruiting body of some (mostly in the genus Tuber) are highly prized as a food. Some call these truffles “the diamond of the kitchen”. Edible truffles are held in high esteem in French and Italian cooking, as well as in international haute cuisine.
The White truffle (Tuber magnatum) grows in the Abruzzo region in Italy. White truffles are rarer, more pungent and more expensive than black ones. They have a shorter growing season, in the three months around Christmas. Blacks are more common in the centre and south, whites in center and north. Nestling in the roots of about 50 trees – mostly oaks but also hazels, poplars, mulberries and willow. Like the French black truffles, Italian white truffles are very highly esteemed. The white truffle market in Abruzzo is busiest in the months of October and November. The Tuber magnatum truffles sell between €3800 to €1700 per kg. Truffle hogs have been used historically in Europe to help find truffles, however, more recently in Abruzzo, dogs have become preferred for truffle hunting since they can be trained not to eat truffles when they find them. With demand shooting up over recent years, hunters have become increasingly competitive and there have even been reports of skulduggery such as hamstringing or even poisoning the champion dogs of rivals.
A truffle weighing over a kilogramme has been found in Abruzzo and looks set to set this year’s Italian record at auction. The white truffle, weighing in at 1.05 kg, was bought from a young local truffle hunter for 15,000 euros. The dealer who bought it, Ernesto De Iorio, told reporters he had three interested parties willing to pay some 35,000 euros for it!
We are very exited about our cooking holiday in October in Abruzzo where we will be heading into the woods for a morning of truffle hunting with one of the area’s most famous hunters and his dogs. We will then have a chance to learn soon of the amazing local recipes and cook are own truffle feast! hope to see you there!
