They’re impossible to find without help from a dog. They look like gnarly knobs of dirt but are treasures worth their weight in gold. The treasure is the famed tartufo bianco di San Giovanni d’Asso, the white truffle of the Siena Crete region from the town of San Giovanni d’Asso, just north of Pienza. It was October and we were conducting a culinary tour in Tuscany; what better way to spend a morning than hunting for truffles in the woods!

 
In Tuscany, there are several varieties of truffles, including some that are inedible, but the two most important truffles are the black summer truffle, found in the late spring through the summer, and the white truffle of the Crete Senese, found from early fall till the end of the year.

 
Our friend and professional truffle hunter, Paolo, lives with his two dogs in the heart of the Siena Crete region where they hunt one of the most prized truffles, the tartufo bianco, or white truffle, of San Giovanni d’Asso. We’ve found the black summer truffle before, with Daniele, of Cinta Senese pig farm fame, and his black and white short haired pointer, Ombra. The forest around Daniele’s house is rich with black truffles and on any given early summer day, Ombra turns up a few. They’re very delicately flavored and neither as highly prized nor as expensive as the autumn black truffle of Umbria. If fact, Tuscans are fond of saying “Ma, sa di niente.” They have no flavor.

 

But the most important truffle found in Tuscany is the rare and expensive white truffle. Found only in Alba in Piedmont, San Miniato in Tuscany, and San Giovanni d’Asso in the Siena province, the white truffle is the most prized both because of its intense perfume and strong flavor. A few shavings of white truffle on a plate of fresh tagliolini is strong enough to perfume an entire restaurant.

 

That cool October morning, we drove to San Giovanni to meet Paolo and Topa in front of the Osteria delle Crete, where we were to have a truffle lunch following the hunt. Topa knew her job and was anxious to get started. Only female dogs, of any breed, are trained to hunt truffles because they have the most sensitive noses, and it requires an extremely sensitive nose and a dedicated hunter to find these elusive fungi. (They used to use pigs, but it’s easier to get a dog to obey and drop the prize without scarfing it down.)

Hunting truffles requires patience. The truffle can be 2-15 inches underground and there are no telltale signs visible to the eye. The dog picks up the scent, but because it doesn’t give off a constant scent, only intermittently releasing its perfume in puffs, the dog and hunter must go over the ground repeatedly to pick it up. Truffle hunting is not usually done randomly in any forest, as is other mushroom hunting, but is done in controlled areas where the area is clearly marked as a truffle reserve and the forest floor is kept clear of debris.
As soon as we reached the truffle zone, Topa got to work. She hadn’t been out in a few days and was anxious to please Paolo by working hard. She soon was digging furiously, pulling with her teeth on roots that her front paws exposed. Paolo occasionally would stop her so he could smell the dirt. If there was indeed a truffle down there, the dirt would smell like it and he would let her continue digging.
When the truffle was found, Paolo gave Topa the kibble he kept in his pocket as a reward. She laid down for a well-deserved rest while he continued to clear the dirt and carefully excavate the treasure. We found several small truffles and three large ones that morning and worked up an appetite for lunch. It was a lovely two hours spent walking through the woods and a joy to see both Paolo and Topa happy with the treasure they’d found. Paolo sells his truffles to the restaurants in San Giovanni d’Asso, where they have a truffle festival the first two weekends of November every year. He told us how his other dog, Mimi, had found the largest truffle at the festival last year which sold for over 3000 euro.
Following the hunt, we joined our hostess, Donatella, at the Osteria delle Crete for a wonderful lunch made up of all things truffle: truffled salami, truffled pecorino cheese, fresh tagliolini with butter, crème di tartufo and shaved white truffles on top, all washed down with the local Rosso di Montalcino. After lunch we were treated to chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa and a wonderful local amaro infused with black truffle. It was a lovely day in Tuscany with a great adventure, found treasure and wonderful food and wine with friends.