Italy: Tuscany's Truffle Trail

The Telegraph ^ | 04 Oct 2013 | Ian Henderson

[nickcarraway]

The region around Florence is renowned for its food. Ian Henderson discovers why as he joins the hunt for one of its most famous delicacies.

I'm enjoying a breakfast of scrambled eggs with delicate shavings of ridiculously expensive white truffle.

According to experts, it’s the perfect way to bring out the unmistakable but indefinable flavour.

I’m at a perfectly dressed table on the terrace of the luxuriously relaxed Villa La Massa hotel overlooking the River Arno, a few miles outside Florence. Below a kingfisher has just shot across the water, a brighter blue than the pale Tuscan sky. Ahead are the hills where I walked yesterday with Giulio the trifulau (truffle-hunter) and his lagotto dog, Edda. My breakfast is as delicious as it is thanks, in part, to them.

Decadent as it may sound, my morning feast is in fact being consumed as part of vital research in the British national interest. One of the relatively few benefits of our (generally) damper summers is that more truffles are now being found in the countryside of Britain; truffle-hunting, however, has not yet taken hold the way it has for centuries in Italy. So I’m here to ascertain the feasibility of bringing back the necessary skills, to blow away the cobwebby mycelia of mystery surrounding the truffle, perhaps add a new dimension to country walks and – maybe – add Britain to the countries producing what is, at up to £6,000 per kilo, one of the most expensive cooking ingredient known to man.

I can’t pretend to optimism regarding the success of this mission. Early investigation has revealed there’s quite a difference between the rare white truffle (Tuber magnatum, the record price for which stands at £165,000 for 1.5kg, paid by a Macau businessman) and the black aestivum truffle found in Britain, selling

[nickcarraway]

[skinkinthegrass]

FYI: it's a (safe &/edible :) fungus.

[La Lydia]

Thanks Nick. Now I’m hungry.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmm!!

[TangledUpInBlue]

I love truffles. Truffles and Barolo or Brunello over risotto, that’s the way to be!