Istrian Truffles

The damp oak forest along the Mirna river in inland Istria produces both black truffles and the white truffle, the same species that made Alba famous and the reason food prices in the Istrian interior behave the way they do. Whites are dug from roughly September to January, blacks over a much longer stretch of the year, and the work is done at night or early morning by people with trained dogs rather than pigs. You meet the result everywhere inland: shaved raw over fuži pasta, folded into scrambled eggs, pressed into cheese, sold in jars along the road. Livade and Buzet are the two centres of the trade, with fairs, weighings and a fair amount of theatre.

What you actually see

• A truffle hunt - an hour or two in the oak woods behind a dog, ending with whatever it digs up.
• Fuži with truffle - the local hand-rolled pasta with fresh shavings over it, the honest way to eat the thing.
• Livade and Buzet - the villages the trade is based in, with shops, autumn fairs and weigh-ins.
• Truffle in cheese and oil - jars, cheeses and oils on every counter, of very mixed quality.

When to go

White truffle season runs from about September to January, when the interior fills with food events; black truffle is available over much more of the year and costs far less. Autumn also brings the grape and olive harvest, so the whole region is busy at once. Book hunts a few days ahead. Winter is cold and wet, which is exactly when the woods work.

Honest expectations

Truffle is expensive and a good deal of what is sold to visitors is not what it claims to be. Most truffle oils and many jarred pastes are made with a synthetic aroma compound rather than truffle, and they taste of it. A dish with fresh shavings costs several times more than one with paste. The hunts are staged, and the dog usually finds truffle that was placed for it.

Nearby

Motovun sits above the same forest, and the Istrian wine roads run through the surrounding hills.