Truffle hunting in Italy!!

Italian truffles are a well-known delicacy worldwide. With their pungent, almost sulphurous and sharp flavour, they are an acquired taste. Not every person can develop an affinity to them…unlike chocolates! These are found under the ground as opposed to other mushrooms that grow over ground and require special expertise for retrieval. They come in the white as well as the black variants. The white ones are the more pricier ones and are extremely delicate in their flavour. 

Having been exposed to a world of food and travel shows exploring Italy, I considered it an absolute sin to miss out on any truffle exploration during my debut visit to Italy.

I started planning for my truffle expedition about a month before I was scheduled to travel to Florence. Scouring through websites of truffle hunters, online reviews, discussion forums – I shortlisted one such hunter – Giulio and got it touch with him. A few email exchanges and the tour was finalised. He was good enough to offer us a good discount as well.

  

A one view chart on various truffles found in Italy

Florence was my base destination for my Italian sojourn. While it is most famously known for its art galleries and statuettes, my itinerary was principally aimed at exploring the food culture and specialities around. Visiting the vineyards in Chianti, exploring an Organic cheese farm, the local food markets were some of the other items on the to-do list. I hope to elaborate more of them in my forthcoming write-ups. I had my German friend for company who I sort of forced into sharing my food interests but I am happy to say, I did leave her in a happy state after our food trips.

Black Truffles - freshly hunted by us

Giulio – The Truffle Hunter, as so he is famously called resides in a small town on the outskirts of Florence. It is pretty easy to get there by bus, which takes barely a half hour. We had co-ordinated with him prior to leaving Florence and he was there at the other end to receive us. He comes across as a person extremely passionate about two things, first - truffles and second - his dog, Edna who is the principal character in the picture of truffle hunting with Gulio.

The Lovely Truffle hunting dog - EDNA

As the history of truffle hunting goes, pigs were traditionally trained and used by truffle hunters owing to their keen sense of smell for these smelly fungi. However, it turns out, the pigs were quite messy at their job and used to leave the woods in shambles when hunting. Norms were changed and dogs started featuring as truffle hunting animals. They could be better trained and were considerably well behaved. Edna is once such special dog. In fact, we were told that Truffle hunting trained dogs could almost be valued at anything between $20,000 – &30,000. Quite a price for a dog but then again, the price of a single truffle are such that the trained dogs would make quite a fruitful investment. Another fascinating fact about truffle hunting is that you need to be licensed to hunt and sell truffles.

Giulio accompanied us to a small hill where we were to understand more about these delicacies and hunt for them with Edna. Giulio left Edna to follow her instincts and her sense of smell. She wandered off in the woods with the rest of us following her slowly. She wasn’t to be disturbed. It wasn’t long before she stopped at a place covered with moss and started a digging movement. Swiftly, we saw Giulio pull her away from that spot and start digging with his spade. He dug out a small black charcoal like thing from the ground and behold – was the first ever Truffle hunted by us. He explained that if he had let Edna dig it out, she would have eaten it up as apparently, dogs and pigs like Truffles. Edna found 5 more truffles in succession and also ate up one of them in the process. Well, she did deserve the treat. After all, she did help us find the truffles.

After a couple of hours in the woods and understanding a bit more of the flora in the woods, we headed back to Gulio’s place where we were taught the intricacies of cleaning, storing and selling truffles. It may seem like a hobby to some but truffles is serious business. There are quite a few varieties and depending on the season, climate and location, these are found in the region. The inner veins when the truffles are sectioned help their identification. Gulio’s knowledge was like a Science lesson in truffles.

A section cut of the black truffle revealing the internal make-up

Lovely lunch of truffles and wine

As promised by Giulio, we were treated to lunch at his home with almost everything (except the wine) having truffles. We gobbled up warm, handmade bread with shavings of truffles followed by pasta with truffles. For dessert, we were offered Ice cream with shavings of truffles, something that I would not have even considered as a food pairing. I chose to try the rather conservative alternative of a wedge of Pecorino cheese drizzled with Truffle infused honey. The combination was an instant blast of flavours. The sweet honey combined with the strong truffle was something unimaginable but intensely flavoursome. I even bought a bottle from him to take back home.

Warm bread with shaved truffles

It was time for us to bid goodbye to Giulio, his wife, Edna and a cat that he had rescued. As a parting present, we were handed two small truffles as takeaway gifts, something that we were absolutely delighted about. 

While I am not sure when will I get to try my food experiments on truffles again (as they aren’t that commonly available in India), I do hope to taste them again soon maybe on my future travels.

Truffle infused honey - simply delightful

Truly, travel is one way of best ways of gaining a deep-rooted understanding of different cultures round the world.

Of flavours and Long forgotten Humble cooking methods!!

I am kind of a traditionalist when it comes to food. I dislike compromising on the authenticity of a dish simply just to make it more acceptable to the crowd. Be it any cuisine, it is more important for me that it is true to its origins rather than modified in any modern way possible.

These ideas of mine are usually reflected in the food I cook and the processes I use to cook them as well. Pasta cooked will usually be with authentic homemade pesto sauce rather than the store bought variant or the traditional Biryani will be cooked in “Dum” in a clay pot with the authentic spice mix as opposed to dunking in any spice I find handy.

This wasn’t always the case however. Just like everyone in their normal state of mind, I used to purchase bottled pesto, ready spice mix for something like Chole or Biryani, use short cuts to grind chutneys etc.

But in recent times, I suddenly started giving things a thought. Thinking logically about flavours and the effect on foods, I realised that all the traditional processes used by people in the earlier times for cooking – such as grinding, slow cooking, roasting, marinating etc. had a strong reason to it. These weren’t just random processes developed but used with careful thought for maximum flavour release of the ingredients.

With this thought, I set out to reset my cooking style with a “Back to basics” approach. Now, I know this may sound a bit extreme to many but come on, give it a thought. Scientifically, it all makes sense. Slow cooking or grinding spices fresh, or roasting – all of these contribute vastly to flavour release and maintaining them. The core spice combinations developed worked in pure synergy with each other and this worked to uplift the flavours of dishes. On a scientific level, it like molecular gastronomy. The individual constituents in all the spices or ingredients worked in a mutually beneficial association each other thus greatly uplifting the flavour of the dish.

With this newfound inspiration, I set out and my first experiment was the evergreen Indian “Chutney”. Now many would ask what is the big deal about chutney. It is usually a combination of coriander, green chillies, lemon, ginger and garlic. Some add other ingredients such as peanuts or coconut to add a new dimension to the flavour but that being said, it is a traditional Indian origin creation. The trick, my friends, lies in how it is made. The age-old tradition of making chutney was using a grinding stone or a “sil-batta” that has now been replaced with the electric blender or mixer.

The Sil-batta is a grinding stone that is used for grinding chutneys, dal (lentils) or anything to get a coarse paste. The stone was widely used in olden times for make chutneys, fresh spice mixes, batter for vadas (fried or steamed dumplings and more. Surprisingly, when I set out to hunt for this stone, it was one of the most difficult tasks. It seems the concept of grinding using a sil-batta is so outdated in current times as no store stocked it. When I did find it however, I paid almost thrice the amount for what one would have usually bought. The things one does for the love of food. 

Highly enthusiastic, I set out the following Sunday to make my first batch of Chutney using this wonderful creation. The exercise of grinding fresh green chutney on the sil-batta is a treat for the visual and olfactory senses and taste buds I would say.

The aromas released during the grinding process are heavenly. The earthiness of the coriander, the heat released by the garlic, the fresh citrusy notes of lemon, the herbal characters contributed by fresh mint and the punch given by garlic are something that cannot be experienced using the electric grinder. The olfactory senses seem to all get alive when you try and focus on each and every ingredient gradually releasing the aromas during the grinding process. 

Taste-wise, while it is true that the ingredients used will determine the flavours released – the different concentrations and their freshness, the flavours obtained by the traditional stone grinding process are incomparable to those using an electric blender.

Scientifically, Grinding helps release the volatile oils in the herbs and ingredients due to which the smell and taste factors are much more enhanced and pronounced. It is these oils that create the aromatic aura that liven by the senses.

While I admit it is a wonderful experience for the visual and olfactory senses, the exercise did test my arm muscles. However, the pain is worth having a bowl of beautiful freshly ground chutney that is robust in its flavour, colour and smell.

While everyone would have different takes on their chutney compositions, I have outlined a simple but abundant with flavour version of my chutney. Some people may like adding sugar to this blend but believe me, its best to have the ingredients shine in their natural flavour.

Spicy Coriander and Mint Chutney

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh coriander - leaves with stalks as the stalks are the main parts having the beautiful earthy flavour (it wouldn’t hut to grow some coriander on the window sill to be able to harvest it fresh whenever the need arises..Its pretty simple)

1 cup Fresh Mint leaves (Again, best when harvested from the window sill)

4-5 green chillies (the hot variety- believe me, it delivers the best flavour punch)

Juice of 1 large lemon

5-6 cloves freshly peeled garlic

Salt – just enough to enhance the taste (not drown the individual flavours)

                                             

Using the grinding stone, crush all the ingredients well except the lemon and salt. Add them at the end of the grinding process. A little sprinkling of water may be needed just to bring everything together as a paste but do not add more water (as one would normally do in a electric blender to make a smooth paste) to make a smooth paste. The whole idea is to have a rustic, a bit coarse blend to be able to experience the all the ingredients. Adding too much water will dilute the flavours and also, the chutney will blacken after a couple of days.  

Some versions also add freshly grated coconut to this mixture while others may add some roasted peanuts to add a nutty character but frankly, its best to have the fresh herbs speak for themselves in such a simple creation.

The above should give you one bowl of spicy Green chutney. 

  

While I do agree that the process may sound time consuming and tedious to some, its worth every bit of effort put into it. Many more variants of pastes, chutneys, dry spice mixes can be created using this humble tool.

Look forward to sharing more such traditional, high on flavour recipes in my further posts.