Truffle hunting in Italy: one man and his dog

Although all the honour in truffle hunting goes to the dogs, watching a hunter at work, it's clear that it is the hunter's good instinct, feel for the terrain and experience that focuses the dog and makes or breaks a hunting trip. Apart from directing the dog to the right places, the hunter makes sure that when the dog does find a truffle  it doesn't eat it, sometimes even opening up the dog's mouth to fish out a precious truffle worth hundred of pounds from deep in the canine's mouth. Watching the hunter and his dog at work is to witness the perfect poetry of man and beast in harmony, a love so deep that the dog is willing to give up the much-desired truffle, and the hunter… well, Serafino described it like this: 'Of course I love my wife. But my dogs?? That's just something else...'

Truffle hunting in Italy: Diana the truffle hound

A couple of days ago we crossed the Apennines from Tuscany to go to Romagna to visit our main truffle hunter Serafino. Although Bernardo has been there regularly in the past four weeks, this was my first trip to Serafino's house. I will write about our day in due course, but the most exciting part (apart from seeing his freshest truffles in the morning which we weighed out and sent off to two of our restaurants) was when he took us out hunting after lunch. Since nothing is possible without the trusty truffle hound, place of honour in this blog must go to Diana, the dog that came with us. A 6-year-old La Gotto Romagnolo, Diana is a sweet and enthusiastic dog with a sharp nose for the truffles, who punctuated her search for truffles with pauses to bound over to us for cuddles and pats...

Another beautiful truffle

This one went to a private client, a very discerning member of the fabulous fashion community of London who appreciates the finer things in life!

This is what we call a truffle!

A humdinger of a white truffle, currently being served up at the brilliant Sir Charles Napier in Oxfordshire

'Green' extra virgin olive oil: facts

Our ‘green’ extra virgin olive oil comes from the Titignano estate in Umbria. The castle of Titignano was built by Farolf of the Montemarte in 937AD and between 16th and 17th centuries, it became the centre of its own small village. In 1830 Prince Corsini from Florence bought it at an auction from the Montemarte family, and it is still in the same family. There are many smallholdings that make up the main estate: Titignano itself along with the farms of Salviano and Vaglia. Our wine and oil both come from the Castle of Salviano on the Titignano estate.  

Umbrian olives have been known as the best olives in Italy since Roman times. Today, Umbrian olives are famous in Italy for producing olive oil with an amazing flavour and excellent digestive qualities and nutrition. The recipe for making olive oil has been passed down through the generations from the Etruscans and Romans onwards.

Because green olives don’t contain much oil, ‘green’ oil is more expensive to produce. Use it for dipping fine breads in, drizzle on mozzarella cheese, on bruschetta or fresh on raw or cooked vegetables, salads, soups, seafood and meat – it will highlight any dish. This olive oil is available in limited quantity as production has a very short season.

We love truffles

And we are lucky enough that we know a bunch of truffle hunters in central Italy, so we buy direct from them and sell to private clients and restaurants, guaranteeing absolute freshness of our top grade quality white and black truffles. There are no middle men, no clever preservation techniques, no dud truffles from Eastern Europe hidden amongst the good ones. Just brilliantly fragrant truffles at a competitive price.

Tuscan Tastes olive oils - 'green' and white truffle oil