Italian Black Truffles
Celebrity chefs tantalize wealthy A-list clients with black truffles imported from Italy. Shaved over pasta and other dishes, their high price gives them the moniker “black gold.”
Yet did you know that in the middle-ages, people considered black truffles the work of devils and witches?
The Italian Truffle
Truffles grow in the rich, dark forests of Italy.
Umbria is rich in black Italian truffles, especially in areas like Valneria.
Valnerina Tartufi (A.R. Tartufi SRL)
Elisabetta and her brother Leonardo Matteucci grew up in Valneria, a region famous for truffles. The siblings’ great grandfather had been a well-known truffle hunter, owning truffle-rich parts of the forest. In the 1960s, the elder Matteucci clan had built a family laboratory to weigh, clean, and process the truffles. But it wasn’t until 2007 that the siblings made a company out of truffles.
The Valnerina black Italian Truffle factory is an elegant place (as you would expect of a luxury product). It boasts a gorgeous showroom and dining area to sample the company’s many truffle-centered products.
Yet the real treat is the opportunity to go on a truffle hunt with their trusted truffle hunter and his dogs.
The Truffle Hunt
Imagine walking down to the green forest in the early morning mist, the sound of birds in the air and crunch of leaves underfoot.
When one dog darts to a tree, tail wagging and nose to the ground, the hunter follows. As the morning hunt progressed, the dogs were clearly in competition with one another. Every time they found a truffle, they’d receive a treat and a generous hug.
Each season offers a different color truffle, and with it, a different taste profile. Chefs made some truffles into a smooth paste, while other truffles are specifically used to shave over dishes such as pasta and omelets.
After the Black Italian Truffle Hunt
After the hunt, they laid the “black gold” treasure onto a scale. Eight truffles, the size of large rocks, competed for space. When I was told the hunt yielded $356 dollars’ worth of truffles, I gasped. A tiny slice of the black truffles would cost more than $100 in a Manhattan restaurant. The entire morning’s bounty would price well over $20,000 at a retail level.
Once weighed, the truffles enter the cleaning phase. The process is just to hold them under running water and scrape them with a vegetable brush. Processing comes next.
The Feast
As the siblings discussed their family and the black Italian truffle tradition, we enjoyed the fruits of our labor (well, the labor of the dogs mostly).
Chefs can serve truffles in a variety of ways, most commonly on toast but also shaved over softly cooked eggs and hand-rolled pasta.
Following is a recipe from their website, where you can order a variety of truffle products shipped to the USA and many countries.
