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.
Read More......Truffles, Piedmont, Piemonte, 45th parallel, Italy, Italian