Truffle Hunting: It's all about the Dog, About the Dog

I always thought that without wild boar, the world would be truffleless.  Wrong. While the French rely on crazed pigs to find their precious truffles, the northern Italians use dogs. Really smart, really focused, well trained dogs.

I had the fantastic opportunity to go truffle hunting with Etzio and his dog Dora, in the Piedmont region of Italy. The trip was part of a terrific food-focused trip organized by Morso Soggiorno out of Boston. Etzio owns a large property where he hunts and occasionally lets visitors follow along with him. The property is located near Alba, and is about 35 miles southeast of Turino (known as Turin in English).
Etzio's land is covered with groves of trees, some maple, some oak and another whose name I didn't catch, even though it was translated into English. The truffles are like mushrooms, in that they are a fungus. But unlike mushrooms, the truffles are found about 6 inches underground, at the base of a tree, amid the roots, and within only a few feet of the tree's trunk. Truffles are an extraordinarily precious commodity. They are harvested for only a short period and because of the worldwide demand for them, a truffle broker waits nearby to purchase Etzio's findings. The white truffles are more valuable than the black ones; with white Alba truffles retailing at about $40 per ounce.

Etzio trained Dora to seek the scent of truffle around the tree bases. When she finds the smell, she begins to paw at the ground furiously. She would love to eat the truffle. Not happening. When Etzio sees that Dora has scored, he pets her enthusiastically, grabs her collar, pulls her away from the spot and bribes her with treats, usually pitching them far away as a diversion.

The first truffle we came upon was black. Its earthy aroma was more intense than any truffle or truffle oil I ever encountered. But, that was NOTHING compared to the perfect emanations from the white truffle. It's easy to understand in one sniff why the white is so much more precious than black.

Etzio carefully uses a tool much like an archeologist would, to unearth the impacted prize.

After about an hour of hunting, Etzio and Dora yielded 4 truffles, a mix of black and white. A broker weighed them, with two whites coming in at 65 grams.

Then, in the family-style trattoria near Etzio's hunting grounds, we experienced possibly the dreamiest pasta I ever ate. Shaved white truffles sprinkled over freshly homemade pasta.