The Centro Nazionale Studi Tartufi is housed in the same building as the Alba Bra Langhe Roero tourist office. I never really knew what these guys did until this year when they started offering truffle classes. The smell of a good truffle is one of those things that once you get embedded in your brain, you know it. It's like for most of my adult life I am sure I drank more than my share of corked wine, but once I had someone point out what that really means, I can pick out a corked wine with the best of them.


With truffles, there is a smell that (because of the nature of smell) is hard to describe, once those synapses fired in my brain, I would describe as earthy, hay, slightly garlic with maybe a hint of honey. At least for the variety here in Alba When I smelled a too ripe specimen a slightly ammonia smell prevailed. A fresh truffle should be firm and a too ripe truffles will have a little give when pinched. Too young, you might as well be eating dirt, so we won't go there.

So what does this have to do with truffles in America?

Well, December 8, 2007 was the first International Fiera del Tartufi symposium where they invited people to represent the countries where truffles grow. Hungary, China, France and America. For various reasons (not the least of which was the people they really wanted were busy and I live here) they invited me to represent America.
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...Truffles, Piedmont, Piemonte, 45th parallel, Italy, Italian

Every two years Slow Food invites the world of cheese to congregate in the village of Bra for it's biennial Cheese festival. This year the weather was perfect, the cheese and wine all delicious albeit a bit overwhelming.

To get there I took Neive to Bra train so I could avoid the inevitable parking nightmare. On the ride home I was rewarded listening to the banter and conversation throughout the packed train car with locals from every small village along the way comparing their purchases and making plans for their unusual and exotic cheese discoveries.

The Piemonte is one of the most cheese-centric places in the world. The idea of what is local takes on a whole new meaning when virtually every single hill and valley that wrap around this region has its own unique expression of cow, goat and sheep milk.

I had the pleasure of walking through the village with my friend Joseph Guth, owner of the specialty food importer Provvista based in Portland, OR. Joe was in town looking for small artisan cheese producers the Italians call caseificio or formaggeria. I learned a thing to two about the cheese business that I never knew before. I have to say that I never knew that there was a very important middle man in cheese called an Affineur or Affinatori in Italian.

This is a person or a company whose job it is to "refine" the cheese. Since most artisan cheese evolves and changes based on time and conditions. It is the job of an Affineur will store and care for the cheese until it is at the right moment for serving. Many Affineurs have actual caves that are naturally cool and humid which are the perfect environment for ripening cheese (as well as storing wine, but that is a different story).

The bond between the calseificio and the affineur and in turn the importer and retailer (or restauranteur) is paramount to ensuring the highest quality product for the client.

...slow food, cheese, affineur, affinatore, calcificio

Hiking in the wine country is not in and of itself an unheard of thing. But this being Italy and more specifically Piemonte, it must be done with food and of course wine! There are a handful of villages that hold an annual hike with food stops along the way. You buy your ticket at the beginning and follow the route to each stop along the way. The hike is through wineries and neighboring farms. The event in La Morra is called the Mangialonga and it is help on the last Sunday of August. If you're planning a visit to the region during the summer months, it is an event not to be missed.


The program for the 2007 Mangialonga:
To start you off a glass of white wine.
The first stop or tappa is assorted salume with a Dolcetto from La Morra
The second stop or tappa is ravioli al plin with a selection of red wines from La Morra
The third stop or tappa is bocconcici di vitello with polento and a D.O.C.G. nebbiolo called Roero
The fourth stop or tappa is a prestigious cheese service and Barolo D.O.C.G. wines from La Morra
The fifth stop or tappa is a selection of sweets with hazelnuts and D.O.C.G. Moscato d' Asti

The cost is 30 Euro and reservations can be made at the tourist office in Barolo.