Alba White Truffle: Hunting Tours and Tastings

A journey between the two main typicalities of the Langhe: truffles and wine!

Truffle Search and Tasting

You will start with a truffle search (time to be agreed) and then you can experience a visit followed by a light lunch in a beautiful cellar of the Langhe.

During the white truffle season, you can decide to buy at the best market price (directly from the truffle hunter!) the best quality white truffle to take home a fragrant souvenir.

Program:

• 1h 30 – 2h with your guide, the trifolao, and his dog, to discover the secrets of truffle hunting
• Light lunch in the cellar. Visit the winery with light lunch with typical dishes matched with the wines of the winery

A complete experience about the world of truffles: starting with the truffle search in the Langhe, then an excellent wine tasting and typical dishes to match with truffles.

At the end of the truffle search (time to be agreed), you can enjoy an excellent typical lunch at a lovely wine shop in the center of La Morra.

Menu: raw meat, fried egg, tajarin, and dessert in combination with a tasting of Nebbiolo, Barolo, and Moscato wine from the producer.

During the black truffle season, you will be given a small quantity that you can taste together with the farmhouse dishes. During the white truffle season, you can decide to buy at the best market price (directly from the seeker!) the best quality white truffle to take home as a fragrant souvenir and to taste in combination with the dishes of the winery.

• One h 30 – 2h with your guide, the trifolao, and his dog, to discover the secrets of truffle hunting
• Lunch or dinner in the wine shop (truffles not included – dishes that can be paired with truffles)

Truffles in the Roero:

We move with this experience to the Roero territory. Again we will meet our guide, who will lead us in discovering this magnificent experience.

At the end of the truffle search (time to be arranged), you will move to Alba for a tasting of truffle products. Lots of ideas and lots of scents. Paired with a glass of wine, you can taste and buy excellent products at Km 0! It will be a good idea to take home many fragrant memories.

You will also be able to buy white and black truffles at market prices and directly from those who search for truffles!

• One h 30 – 2h with your guide, the trifolao, and his dog, discovering many curiosities of this world.
• Tasting of excellent quality truffle creams. A glass of wine

Please note: The tasting will be in Alba. Research instead in the Roero area, not far from Alba. The address is given after booking.

Roero, truffles and agnolotti del plin: an experience that begins with the search for truffles, which continues with a tasting of truffle products and finally a plate of agnolotti del “plin” with a grating of truffles

You will also be able to buy white and black truffles at market prices and directly from those who search for truffles!

• One h 30 – 2h with your guide, the trifolao, and his dog, discovering many curiosities of this world. The search will be conducted in a truffle ground where the trifolao educates and works with his trusty friend.
• Tasting of excellent quality truffle creams. A glass of wine.
• Another stop in Alba, on the main street, to enjoy a plate of agnolotti del “plin” with grated truffle and a glass of wine.

Please note: The tasting will be in Alba. The stop for agnolotti del “plin” also in Alba. The address is given after reservation. The search instead was in the Roero area, not far from Alba.

It is essential to wear comfortable shoes (trekking or gymnastics) and long pants.

In case of bad weather (e.g., rainfall expected by the website of Meteo Aeronautica 48 hours before the event with a probability greater or equal to 50%), it will be possible to:

– postpone the experience by agreeing on a new date at no extra charge
– cancel and receive a refund of the amount you paid net of 15 euros per person for organizational costs

Please refer to the general conditions for other situations you wish to cancel.

All tour details and addresses will be communicated after the confirmation and payment of the tour.

Truffle hunting in the Langhe. I’ll tell you about autumn

Characters and performers!

The fragrant Truffle is hidden underground. Near the roots of poplars, willows, oaks, and elder, preferably solitary trees, grows and ripens the King of Tubers, the Tuber Magnatum.

The Truffle struggles to grow and mature if the summer is too dry. The preferred soil is loamy, moist, and perhaps north-facing. I explain these things to satisfy some curiosity. On the other hand, if you wanted to become a seeker of precious Truffle, you’d better try to “bribe” some Trifulau!

Here is the Trifulau, sharpening their “weapons” these days. They start taking their dogs for training in the morning or at dawn. So the dog is not distracted by noise, and … the areas remain secret!

The most colorful season, meanwhile, has arrived. The hills of the Langhe begin to dress in yellow, orange, and red foliage like a curtain that must open in the most melancholy and sweet season.

And so, let me tell you about the spectacle of the Langhe Truffle Quest. The white Truffle of Alba or the trifula, if you want to look like a native!

Truffle Search, how it’s done

Upon arrival, you will meet the trifulao and the leading actor, his dog.

The trifolao loves nature, woods, walks, and dogs. And he is quite a loner. Because the quest to find the place where the Truffle grows in the Langhe is a secret and well-hidden place. Because the Truffle King is habitual and likes to grow in the same place. And so if you find it today, you will easily find it in the next season.

His dog has been bred with affection and small truffle prizes! Without bloodshed and with a significant scattering of scent. It is a beautiful hunt.

After getting to know the day’s players, you’ll be introduced to the sights, techniques, and a few gastronomic nods to the world of Truffles.

It’s off to the Truffle Hunt in the Langhe.

Then it’s off. It’s off into the woods. Comfortable shoes are essential! And you can hear step by step the tension building.

The voice of the trifolao inciting his dog.

“Come on, Come on, That’s right, more “ … and the dog moved like a happy and excited hound.

And then the magic moment. The dog has sniffed the treasure. And it digs anxiously and impatiently. And here, the trifolao intervenes to calm him down: the Truffle is there, but there are two contenders. The dog who would like to bite it, and the trifolao who wants to extract it gently.

Tension rises, and the tasks are divided. The trifolao uncovers the Truffle and has to take it away from the dog’s gluttony! But then the Truffle comes out of its hiding place and we, all around, smell the intoxicating scent.

The dog calms down and receives a reward for his effort.

I hope I have conveyed to you, even in part, the beauty of this challenge and the pleasure of understanding nature as it performs.

If, as a grand finale, even you, who have searched and hunted along with the trifolao, would like your prize, the Langhe Truffle Tasting will be an excellent reward for your “effort.”

Two eggs with a grating? A plate of tajarin? The simpler the dish, the more you can taste the Truffle!

Why is autumn the best season for truffles?

Because it is cold at night because there is moisture in the air and therefore the precious hypogean fungus ripens slowly and thus gives its best when tasted.

Which then you know is all about the scent: try tasting a truffle with your nose closed, and half the pleasure, or maybe more will be gone!

At this point, someone will wonder if it is really worthy of such fame, after all, it is then just perfume or almost…well, I say yes! That unmistakable scent, which I won’t venture to compare to anything else for fear of belittling it, is something intoxicating, almost magical…and so at least once a year is worth paying for! You only live once, right?

Here we come straight to the painful notes: how much does the White Truffle of Alba cost in its best season? The price is variable, depending on the year, how much is known, and also on the size: the smaller or broken truffles are, the less they cost. It is reasonable to think that it is around 300/350 euros per ounce. In some more difficult years, it is possible to go up to over 600/700 euros per 100 grams During the Truffle Fair it tends to increase because there is more demand!

But how much is an ounce of truffle? How much truffle is necessary to scrape for a dish?

Let’s say a nice and generous grating is around 6 to 7 grams, so if the truffle costs 300 euros per 100 gr., our rich dish will cost us 18 to 21 euros. Of course, if we choose one of the many restaurants in the Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato area, we should expect somewhat higher figures.

Truffle research and tasting: what dishes do we pair truffles with?

The truffle has an elegant and sophisticated as well as unmistakable scent: it is very important not to cover it with strong flavors in the pairing; for this reason, the favorite and most recommended dishes are classic egg tagliatelle (the “tajarin,” perhaps the typical 40-yolk recipes) or simply with a fried egg (my favorite pairing!). Some people love it with raw meat, but I think it gives the best with hot dishes… the personal taste of course! I also find it amazing with fondue.

What wine to pair with truffle?

Let’s say that for pairing it commands the dish on which we “grate” it, so certainly with the important and full-bodied reds typical of the Langhe we are on the safe side!

But in the end, why is truffle so expensive? And the White Truffle of Alba even more so?

Surely marketing has played its part in the enhancement of the truffle, but the reason is surely also its rarity and the difficulty in finding it. The one from Alba because it has a distinctly intense and recognizable aroma.

From this point of view, a truly unique experience is to accompany a “trifolao” and his dog in search of the precious mushroom, perhaps at the first light of dawn. It is exciting to witness the excitement of the dog sniffing all around and rushing into all the nooks and crannies in search of the truffle. Very interesting to find out all the dog training techniques and to understand how to extract truffles, which of course must not break.

Here, this is the dimension of the truffle that I like the most: the idea of returning it to what it is, a natural product, of the earth, that is not just a luxury good for the tables of chefs around the world (this aspect comes later), but a fragrant mushroom that grows underground only in certain conditions and areas and for this reason becomes rare and precious.

A product that tells us about native Piedmontese-speaking “trifolao” and dogs that understand only that “language,” about a symbiotic relationship between them and their master, and above all about ecology and the environment. Oh yes, because as long as there are truffles it means that nature is not yet defeated. The truffle is born and grows only in the woods, and it is only by preserving them that we can still enjoy this wonder of nature. The truffle has a simple, peasant soul in it, much less sophisticated than many gourmet products…in the end, “he” only needs an egg in the pan to be at his best!

I could tell you many more things about the world of truffles, about the plants that promote their formation and the areas where they can be found; about the various more and less prized types…. but I would like to leave a little mystery, a mystery just as fragrant as the White Truffle of Alba!

If you want to find out all about this world, join a truffle search in the Langhe with a final lunch and tasting…I guarantee it will be unforgettable!