Celebrate white truffle season at the International Alba White Truffle Fair in Piedmont, Italy
- Unlike black truffles which can be farmed, white truffles must be foraged in the wild
- Alba’s white truffles are highly prized and the fair is a great place to buy them
Food lovers don’t need to look for an excuse to visit Piedmont, the region in northwest Italy known for its wine and cuisine – think Barolo and Barbaresco wines, and Bra, home of the Slow Food Movement.Going in October and November is a particular treat because of the rare wild fruit of a fungus – Tuber magnatum, better known as the white truffle – which comes into season around this time.
Unlike Tuber melanosporum, the famous and expensive black truffle of Perigord, which is now being grown in Australia, farmers have yet to find a way to cultivate white truffles, so they must be foraged.
Truffle hunting in the region is tightly regulated, and good foraging spots are among the most closely guarded secrets of a trifulau (truffle hunter).
Many truffle hunting tours are therefore simulated hunts, but Australian expat Eleanor Fletcher, who has been living in the Langhe, the hilly, southeastern subregion of Piedmont, for six years, says she can organise real truffle hunts through her company Langhe Secrets.
You need to be prepared to venture out at night or early hours of the morning.
