Each October, in the Alba region of Italy, a truly magical combination of conditions creates one of the world's most treasured delicacies. The Tuber Magnatum, or tartufo bianco in Italian, is the prized and ephemeral White Truffle. And the Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Biacno D'Alba is a two month festival that serves both to celebrate everything truffle as well as to provide a marketplace.
Here, the "Trifulao" as the truffle hunters are known in the Piemontese dialect, bring the treasures they have collected in their overnight secretive scavenger hunts to sell to restaurateurs and other anxious buyers at stratospheric prices. Visitors are aware of the presence of this bounty well before they see it. Even before you enter that large hall where the market takes place, you are overwhelmed by the gorgeously pungent aromas.
Inside are rows of booths selling a wide variety of truffle related products. Cheese, salumi, dried pastas and more are infused with both black and white truffles. The pasta tends to be in the Piemonte style which is a tagliatelle whose rich yellow color comes from the heavy-handed use of egg yolks. It is, perhaps, the perfect accompaniment to a freshly shaved truffle.
That fresh truffle can be purchased from any of the dozens of truffle booths, each showcasing the funghi under clear plastic cups in glass cases. Shoppers can lift a cup to inhale the earth perfume and therefore judge the quality before they buy. Newbies that want to refine their truffle judgement skills might consider one of the classes available that teach the finer points of how truffles are rated based on aroma, size, texture and color. Note that the black and white truffles are 2 different species with the white being much more aromatic, sought after, and expensive.
While the marketplace is the heart of the Truffle Festival, the entire town participates. There are a variety of events including medieval fairs where locals dress in their 16th century best and sell period food and drink along with offering a variety of games of skill and chance. This is really a competition between the well delineated neighborhoods of Alba, each trying to serve up the best meats seared over open flames, entertainment reminiscent of a medieval Dave and Busters, song, dance, and a very fine time.
But perhaps the best part of the Fiera is the fact that virtually every restaurant offers fresh truffles. The dishes are often simple, with a common offering being the aforementioned pasta with a simple butter sauce. Fresh white truffle is shaved generously tableside and the smell and taste is simply beyond description. The typical supplemental charge to add white truffles to any dish is $25, and that is a bargain. High end Italian restaurants in the US fly in white truffles to serve at dinners for which they charge hundreds per person.
Note that a white truffle begins to degrade the moment it leaves the ground and within a day or two is not nearly what it started as. 4-5 days and it is spoiled. That means that the only way to experience the pinnacle of truffle dining is to travel to Piemonte in the fall.
Despite the availability of fresh truffles in most restaurants, we wanted to truly experience the market. So we took a truffle class, and then bought a small truffle (50 grams…$100) along with the special “mandolin” used to shave them razor thin. We later sought out a small pizzeria where we covered slices of margherita pizza with truffle magic. Sitting on a cobblestone patio away from the bustle of the city center, our rustic street food was transformed into a delicacy that carried us into gastric bliss.
Now firm believers in the magic of the tartufo bianco, we were intent on exploring their source. Not the market from earlier in the day, but where these gems were unearthed. I had heard that some of the Trifulao (truffle hunters) offered tourists the opportunity to accompany them on daytime hunts. To be clear, the true truffle hunt is conducted at night and in secrecy. The conditions that allow a given spot to produce a truffle will consistently produce more each fall. Those spots are a closely guarded secret.
But by day some hunters make extra money giving tourists a glimpse of their world. We booked a trip and a tour guide took us and a dozen other travelers into the countryside where we met up with Filipe and his dog Aldo. We foraged through wooded countryside not far from the road while the tour guide served as translator and we learned about the life of the Trifulao. Toward the end of the 2 hour hunt, Aldo did find a rather nice (100 gram) truffle that Filipe expertly and carefully dug up. I’m still undecided if this was an authentic experience or if the truffle was placed there earlier in the day. Regardless, it was fun and informative.
While this blog is about the Fiera del Tartufo, we must include a note on Piemonte as a wine region. This is the home of the great Nebbiolo wines Barolo and Barbaresco, and one of the finest wine trips one can take. For more, see this blog.