Katie Caldesi's Diary of Italian Living, Food & Culture.

Now I’m addicted to white truffles and what an expensive thing to be addicted to. I thought Alba was great, its such a typical old Italian small town. The main street was brimming with great shops both for clothing, shoes and food so I was in heaven, only didn’t have enough time to shop. Had to be very focussed and try not to get distracted by gorgeous bargains. Luckily I was chaperoned by two Italian men who took me to Mora, a shop started by a families about 80 years ago. Signor Mora had the foresight to realise there was a massive potential market in white truffles and so began Alba’s truffle fair which is in November. He also gave away huge white truffles to famous people such as President Truman and other stars of stage and screen. This is really what gave the white truffle its luxury feel, plus of course, its rarity and weird scent.

To me the truffles smell of the woods, of wet trees, spring onions and a hint of strong cheese. It is said that they give off pheramones and that is why we find them sexy or at least find our co-diners sexy. I love Elizabeth Luards description, in her book Truffles, of how she looked at a bearded botantist who was showing her a white truffle in a different light after he let her inhale the scent.

Apparently truffles smell like a male pig to the female pig and this is why the females were used to hunt them. The only problem was that they kept eating them and prizing a truffle from the salivating mouth of a pig on heat was tricky. That is why dogs were used, who obey orders better and are easier to train. They still want to eat them but can be bribed with doggy snacks.

We went truffle hunting in the early hours of last Wednesday morning. We went to the hills just outside Alba, it was a beautiful morning, crisp and quiet. We had no luck with the whites, we met a hunter with two dogs who had been in our patch before, but then went on to find about five black truffles which I proudly brought home. I bought a couple of whites for our Truffle Evening last Friday at the school and we enjoyed them shaved onto Giancarlo’s fresh egg pasta. The blacks we used to give flavour to chicken breast by stuffing them under the skin. Delicious!

As for the dining part of the trip I ate at Le Clivie, a michellin starred restaurant in Tenuta Carretta which is in Alba. Poalo, owner of the Tenuta produces wonderful local wines. I liked the Cayega from the Arneis grape and the Bric Quercia, a mainly Barbera red so much we are going to have them at Caffe Caldesi for a limited period. I had Cayega with an rich creamy fonduta made with local Fontina cheese and egg yolk with shavings of white truffle. The red perfectly matched the meat course again served scattered of white truffle. Oh how I love to eat and drink Italian. So if you can, go to Alba, the flights are inexpensive, we went BA to Turin, the accommodation plenty and of good quality. Then there is a great choice of restaurants and of course fantastic local wines to be savoured with the finest white truffles. What more could you want?