Pasta and Truffles and Lunch—Oh, My!

We were guests again today at Tenuta Torciano. In our morning cooking class Cousin Antonio taught us how to make pasta the Tuscan way. Half semolina and half regular flour, with a touch of salt, olive oil and one egg does the trick. We all rolled out our pasta paper thin, and then cut it with a knife to make the most delicious tagliatelle we have ever tasted.

While the cooking crew completed the rest of our lunch using the fresh pasta we had just made, we went with an old gentleman named Signore Moreno, who has made a life of hunting truffles with his three dogs Viola, Vila, and a three-month-old puppy named Zora. He told us about the six kinds of black truffles and about the elusive white truffle, which cannot be cultivated. The white ones can only be found out in the wild, and just a few ounces will fetch a price of thousands of dollars.
The training of the dogs begins before birth. Truffles are fed to the expectant bitch, and the flavor is infused in the breast milk she feeds her newborn pups. They become sensitized to that flavor and aroma from birth. Then truffles are placed inside a ball that the puppies fetch. Finally the ball with truffles inside is buried, and the young dog must dig it up and bring it to Signore Moreno. Today he released the three dogs in a wooded area and within minutes they began digging out black truffles. We petted and loved on the dogs and rewarded them with bits of cookies. Zora, the youngest dog, still insists on eating the truffles she finds. When he is not teaching a group of tourists, Signore Moreno trains little Zora alone so that he can stop her from consuming the product. He is sure she will eventually get the idea and turn into a good truffle hunter. Her mother Viola is regarded as a champion, and in 2018 found nearly 16 kilograms of white truffles. The cost of a dog like Viola can be as much as a new car.
By the time all of the folks in our group had helped the dogs to dig out a black truffle, lunch was ready. Again our places at the table were set with a rainbow of white and red wines. We had fresh bruschetta and an antipasto plate of cheeses, melon, and dried beef, followed by the pasta we had made in the morning. The cooks had added sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and the truffles found in the woods we had just scoured. The main course was Tuscan steak with roasted potatoes and eggplant.
The meal was remarkable not only because of the wonderful team in the kitchen at Tenuta Torciano, but also because we had contributed to making the ingredients of the meal.Read more