I've had truffles on the mind (and in the stomach,luckily) over the past week as I made my once-a-year purchase last Friday and spent the past few days partaking.
Here's my question: we stumbled on a kind of Autumn Market in San Gimingano where there wer loads and loads of truffles on offer. For the life of me, I can't remember seeing a price. How much do they go for in Italy? I imagine like here, there is a wide range of quality (rarity) and price. How does it work? We also saw truffles on restaurant menus quite frequently. Is this a seasonal thing?
Kevin at the moment we are in truffle high season. Black winter truffle should go at about 300 Euro per kg. The Trattoria dal cacciatore close to us sells a plate of (yummy) fresh tagliatelle with white truffle at 15 Euro, but you should expect to pay in Umbria 18 Euro or more, I guess Tusacny might be more expensive.
Truffles on the markets should be fresh as there is plenty this year, but before buying any, check that they are clean of dirt, no holes or soft spots and that they have plenty of "perfume" to be smelled
Kevin, yes there's a range of quality and price and you can find different truffles in different seasons. White Truffle: from Alba (Piemonte) and Acqualagna (Le Marche) collected October 1st - December 31st Black Truffle: mainly from Norcia and Spoleto but you'll find plenty of it in Umbria, Le Marche, Tuscany, Piemonte and I'm sure somewhere else... collected Dec 1st-March 15th bianchetto truffle: it's a mildly tasting white truffle collected in Spring Jan 15th-April 30th Summer black truffle/ Scorzone: very mildly tasting collected May-Dec
The good ones are the first two. The white being the "best" but a good black can be as nice! THe Scorzone is often used for Truffle cheeses, or stuffings along with some chemical truffle aroma as it has very little aroma itself! Unluckily the truffle aroma is very often used also by restaurants... they call it truffle oil but commercial truffle oil has aromas in it! Prices can vary quite a lot depending on the season (hot/cold, dry/wet summer, autumn and winter) the White was around 1000 euros/kilo this last autumn in Acqualagna as there were many truffles on the market, but in previous years I saw prices around 2000 and up to 3500 euros/kilo!
Yes, as somebody else told you, it is high truffle season. My bro goes trufflr hunting continuously, and we often eat them togheter -a truffle tastes way better when shared with loved ones - but few weeks ago I bought a good 60+gr black umbrian truffle for about 30€.
OK, I am officially hungry now, It will be spaghetti with wild asparagus and black truffle for lunch today.
If you are lucky enough to have a spaniel or a terrier with a good nose in Piemonte, they are free...unless land is officially marked with a provincial KEEP OUT sign, truffles hunters can come on private property to hunt them here.
Having said that, three of these hunters showed up at my door this year, with goods to sell. THe prices ranged from 1.70 per gram to 2.25.
That would be right where Giulia put the prices of white truffles.
We bought two truffles on Christmas eve and enjoyed handmade tagliatelli tartufi for Natale. The left overs I shaved over scrambled eggs and I put some shavings in my jar of arborio rice as well.
White truffles were so much cheaper in Acqualagna this year... I couldn't belive it! It might not have been such an abundant season for truffles in Piemonte as in Le Marche! I also have to admit that, as we do have provincial Keep Out signs on part of our farm (not that this scares some of the hunters - truffle or other), one of our neighbour is the only one officially allowed to go in and he shares his small-broken-ugly truffles with us sometimes (which he can't sell). Nobody would buy them but they taste exactly as great as the others!
When I was in Tuscany in October I had one of the most wonderful culinary treats of a lifetime. Nico's father-in-law brought over a paper bag half full with white truffles. They then prepared a tradtional peasant meal. They poached eggs in olive oil and then simple put cheese over and sliced the truffles on top. This served with bread was out of this world. The white truffles were going for €3000 a kilo then. Here is a picture of this dish--oh--so good--I had two servings!
Yes yes and yes... it's sooo good! It's my personal favourite way to eat truffles (even if I use butter instead of olive oil... I'm a real northern italian, after all!). I'm not a great fan of other truffle things: risotto (even if I love rice!), salamis, cheeses, meats, etc. except some good hand made tagliatelle with plenty of butter, parmigiano and truffle!!! I think that truffles go great with anything "eggy"!
Originally posted by paradiso 28: If you are lucky enough to have a spaniel or a terrier with a good nose in Piemonte, they are free...unless land is officially marked with a provincial KEEP OUT sign, truffles hunters can come on private property to hunt them here.
We have the terrier and some land in northern Tuscany where funghi are plentiful. I harbour a fervent dream that truffles might be found there too. Do you think it's possible and if it is how do we train the dog to find them?
Beebee
Posts: 1954 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 09 September 2002
My neighbour is a truffle dogs trainer and I might ask him how you can do it... I think it's quite long and usually not extremely pleasant from the dogs point of view, though... I mean I'm sure that this man is ok with his dogs (he's a sweetie and the dogs look great) but I'm not sure that I would like my pet to be trained as a truffle dog...
Well, from what we hear.. you start out with bread soaked in truffle oil, get the dog used to the smell. Let him eat it, smell it in your pocket. Do the same with gorgonzola wrapped in bread.
THen start burying bread soake in truffle oil right below the surface of the ground. See if he can find it. Invest in a black truffle. Bury some shavings. Get him to find them, reward him with bread soaked in oil or gorgonzola.
Do this every week for the rest of the dog's life.
Pray that he finds one g....d..am truffle so you can say he is a truffle dog!!!!
so, in June, we can expect no truffles in the Piedmont???
I know in Umbria there is some pasta tartufi oon most menus but they are black and in extrememly varying quality. Are they all the "scorzone" ones Giulia talked about? Doesn't matter to me, I love them anyway.
Thanks for all the replies. I totally agree that truffles go best with eggs. This year I treated our family to a brunch featuring Eggs Benedict à la truffe for the Epiphany. It was a huge hit, as no one at the table had ever had eggs benedict before so it was all kind of new and different.
That being said, I recently had Noix de St. Jacques stuffed with truffles. That was pretty darn good. And one year for New Year's Eve, I took a chapon and placed some truffles inside for a few days, then incorporated the truffles into the stuffing and placed some thin slices under the skin while roasting the bird. That wasn't bad either...
I am amazed at how cheap the prices seem to be in Italy. At the Marché des Truffes in Carpentras, the going price is about 800 euros/kilo this year. But we have had two extremely dry years in a row, so truffles are pretty rare around here. Now I know why they are so strict about making sure the truffles being sold are not imported. It would be fun (not to mention mouth-wateringly delicious) to do a blind taste test using black winter truffles from Italy and from the Vaucluse.
Topic Closed
- but few weeks ago I bought a good 60+gr black umbrian truffle for about 30€.
gimme, gimme
