Truffles have been a gastronomic delicacy for thousands of years.
The ancient Greeks thought they were the stimuli of erotic desires while the Roman Pliny wrote that they were "miracles of nature".
We sell two varieties, the black and the white.
The white, tuber magnatum, are the most famous and their capital is the town of Alba in Piedmont where the calcareous clay soils in the area have led to their renown.
The truffles begin to form in the late summer on the roots of particular trees such as oaks, poplars, hazelnut, lime and some pines. They are matured by late September and the season lasts until January.
To be at their best. copious rain is needed late summer and early autumn, hence the saying "tartufo buono, vino cattivo" or "good truffles, bad wine" because a good wine vintage needs little or no rain during this period.
Special dogs are used to find the truffles. In the past pigs were used because the ripe truffle gives off a smell similar to the pheromones of a male pig but trying to control a large, sexually excited sow is problematic.
Dogs are easier to control, indeed a truffle dog college exists in Alba to train the animals. A good dog will be worth over £3000 and can smell a single truffle from a distance of up to 200ms away. The smell is only emitted at the precise moment of ripeness so a dog could miss a truffle that would be found a short while later.
Truffles retain their freshness and flavour for up to 10 days. The white truffle is always used raw, sliced very thinly onto pasta and risotto while the other variety, the black truffle, is best lightly cooked.
The capital of the black truffle, tuber melanosporum, is b>Norcia in Umbria and some success has been had growing this truffle commercially by planting roots with the spores already attatched. It takes, however, up to twelve years before the truffles can be collected and, despite this innovation, prices remain high.
Interestingly, up until the Second World War, black truffles were widely collected throughout Wiltshire. This tradition has been lost but they will still be there waiting for some bright spark to send their pet to the dog college...
