The Truffle Dance: Truffle Hunting & Truffle Cooking Class in Italy

After getting ever so slightly sloshed, we woke in the morning to a rainy day of truffle dancing. One piece of advice when it comes to travel to Italy: Do the truffle dance. It’s not cheap, but totally worth it. Apparently, truffles are the Viagra of Italy.  Or perhaps of Italian millionaires, considering that the little turd-like fungus go for anywhere from $1800 - $2400 per pound.

We met our fearless truffle hunt leaders under a bridge in Citta di Castello, Umbria a few miles from Montone. 

Not because they were trolls, mostly because they feared that based on our track record, that we might never find them. They drove us to a fenced truffle field full of oak and hazelnut trees, where we were met by our one-eyed guide and his truffle dog Asia.

The truffle hunt really is like a ritual dance. The dog dances around the field, starts digging up a truffle when she finds it, and the humans dance after her to capture the fungal gold before she masticates.  We joined Saverio of truffle house Tartufi Bianconi, along with his translator Lena, and pretended to be truffle masters, running after the dog, identifying truffles and smelling them, learning about technique, scent and flavor.

Even more interesting than the truffles, was Lena herself. A sparkling 70-something Swedish immigrant to Italy, she learned most of her English from watching movies – especially musicals – in the 30s and 40s. Fascinated and restless in her Gore Tex raincoat and rubber boots with blue eye shadow and wind blown hair, the mama of four and grandmother of more was more like a seven year old than a septuagenarian.
 
After the hunt, they Lena and Saverio took us for cappuccino and a quick walking tour of the old city in Citta de Castello,

then off we went for our Corsi de Cucina Tartufo (that, my friends, is “truffle cooking class” in Italian ;) with the talented and lovely Gabrielle of Tartufi Bianconi.  Before we set to cooking, Saverio and Gabrielle served us sparkling wine and truffled cheese with honey. They then took us on a short tour of their one-room truffle museum where we saw truffle flavored lip gloss and an enormous picture of a truffle pig.

After we’d relaxed for a bit, Gabriella, who has an intense sentimental fascination with the truffle, led us through the creation of what felt like a billion different truffle dishes. We made a bright, fresh cream of celery soup, a delicious egg flan, and homemade peasant pasta called frascatelli, polenta with truffle – and it didn’t stop there. A true adventure for the palate, by the time we left we could distinguish the flavors of white vs. black truffles and knew the ins and outs of truffle cookery. Gabriella gave us truffle cookbooks, sold us some bottles and jars of the earthy delicacy and sent us on our way. Thank god for denim with spandex. I would spend the rest of the trip in my favorite waistband-less travel pants.

Tune in tomorrow for the final chapter of the Girls Gone Fabulous.