Scava, scava. Here… good… bring it here!!!” And they, excited by the game, keep inserting their snout – that’s what the dog’s nose is called – among the humus and dry leaves, searching for the precious tuber. The most skilled can smell the scent of a truffle ground even half a meter deep, or under twenty centimeters of snow or even beneath a layer of ice.
Truffle Dogs
And at incredible speed, they dig holes deeper than themselves to gently bite the fragrant “prey” and run back to exchange it for a biscuit. If the truffle is very large and the dog cannot get it or it risks breaking it, then the digger intervenes who extracts it from the ground with the help of a special pickaxe designed not to cut the tree roots.
What to many may seem like a fun and pleasant walk in the woods is actually the result of long work done by truffle diggers together with their puppies.
At the root of everything is the difficult training of the dog. To sensitize his sense of smell to the particular scent, and above all to teach him to return the intact truffle, training must start immediately, because it takes a lot of time and just as much patience. If things go well, man’s best friend will also become his valuable business partner, and will receive many biscuits in exchange for as many truffles as he finds.
The training begins when the dog is still a puppy, playing together and throwing, instead of the classic ball, artificial products similar to truffles, or crumbs of parmesan, which have an equally intense scent. Then, to get him used to reality, real truffles are thrown, of not fine quality but with an unmistakable smell nonetheless. At every retrieval, the dog will receive his well-deserved “treat-biscuit,” and so, run after run, he will get used to not eating or breaking them, but to delivering them intact to his owner.
The commercial value of a good truffle dog, three or four years old, can exceed three thousand euros, because well-trained dogs correspond to large quantities of truffles found, and therefore high earnings. Usually, every truffle digger trains his own dog alone, otherwise one must turn to specialized breeders. The choice of the dog to purchase takes place in the field, or rather, in the woods. The breeder brings about ten and unleashes them all together. The one who finds the greatest number of truffles will probably also have found a new owner.
Generally, breeders prefer mongrel dogs to purebred ones because they have a much more developed sense of smell. Some, perhaps to promote their animals, claim that puppies born from a dog already trained to search for truffles are more skilled than others at recognizing the scent. Then we have news of the Lagotto Romagnolo, a dog breed not yet registered, which seems particularly inclined to this scent activity.
How much does truffle cost?
But how profitable is searching for truffles? Mr. Domenico Azzaro, a digger who knows the beech woods of his area by heart, explains to us: “It all depends on the season, quality, size of the truffle, and market demand. For example, the white truffle (more precious) and the uncinato truffle are found between October and December, the bianchetto from January to April, and the estivum from May to November.
The retail price starts from €15 per 100 grams for the Masentericum Uncinatum, a fairly common black truffle but with a high content of phenol acid that, to be preserved and hence sold in stores, must undergo a chemical treatment which the big industry players in the sector obviously keep well secret. But you can easily spend up to €200 for the white truffle.” This, in fact, is the average amount to pay, as we write, if we want to purchase 100 grams of the famous Alba White.
Searching for truffles thus seems like a very profitable activity, but it is subject to specific legislation. The law requires a specific exam and the issuing of a license card. It also limits the use of dogs to no more than two at a time and prohibits the collection of truffles during night hours. No limit on weight, however, at least until today. So if a truffle ground rich in white truffles is spotted, and if the dog is good, then it’s money by the shovel load, or rather, by the pickaxe load.
Every year in Alba, the undisputed homeland of the truffle, a huge trade fair takes place throughout October, concluding this year on November 10 with the awarding of the best truffle collected. Another event not to be missed is the extraordinary world truffle auction that will also be held on November 10 at the Castello di Grinzane Cavour.
It is the occasion for enthusiasts from all over the world to snap up the best truffles on the market, coming not only from Alba but also from Norcia, Spoleto, Acqualagna, and many other locations jealously guarded by the diggers.
For us mere mortals, it is given to know that the tuber magnatum, i.e., the truffle, is found between zero and seventeen hundred meters in altitude, grows well from mycorrhizae placed at the ends of the roots of oaks, beeches, and hornbeams, and the soil must be calcareous. They’re there to be collected. You just have to find them.
Good to know…
To consume fresh truffle, you must clean it from the soil with a small brush and rinse it with running water. Then cut it into slices, and eat it raw on simple dishes like fried eggs or rice with butter and sage, which do not overpower its characteristic scent.
To preserve it for a few days, it must be kept in the fridge at a temperature of 2 degrees, wrapped in a cotton handkerchief, or in a jar full of rice (to be cooked later), which will absorb its moisture, thus avoiding mold formation.
