Truffle hunting in Rome

Collaboration with Matteo Truffles.

Enjoying a day in nature with Uzi, Wendy and Julietta.

If you love nature, animals and truffles, truffle hunting is the perfect experience for you!

I tried the experience with Matteo, who organizes truffle hunting trips all year round in Bracciano, 50 kilometers north from the center of Rome. The location is easily accessible by car or by train from Rome.

Truffles are a lifestyle and a true passion for Matteo, who works full-time in the truffle business. He hunts and sells truffles, produces truffle products, makes truffle events and experiences and trains new truffle hunters and truffle dogs.

-I am lucky to have been born to a truffle hunter family. My grandfather Bruno started the business, and my father Furio taught me to find truffles. It is the biggest passion in my life, Matteo says.

-If I ever feel any stress in my life, I take my dogs and go for a walk in the woods. It always works.

Yes, I agree. Beautiful Italian countryside, sunshine, dogs, good company – totally unwinding.

Feeling relaxed in the nature of Bracciano.

Lovely truffle-guide Matteo.

Truffle is a luxury food. It is expensive because it grows wild and it is hard to find. Only a professional hunter with permission is allowed to hunt and pick truffles, and every truffle has a legal period to be picked and sold.

Before meeting Matteo I thought truffles are an over-expensive and a very difficult product to use at home. Matteo says I am not alone with my thoughts; truffles are branded to be mystic on purpose. Now I know more, thanks to Matteo.

-Truffle is a symbiotic mushroom that grows under the ground, in relationship with the tree. In the end, the tree produces the truffle, Matteo explains.

- Truffle needs the right climate and the right environment. The most important thing in the environment is alkaline soil and the right tree, like oak.

Italy is the biggest and the most traditional truffle hunting country. But surprisingly, a truffle is a quite common mushroom.

- Before people believed truffles grow only in Italy, France and Croatia. Today we know, that truffles grow everywhere in the world, and we have even truffle-types we have not discovered yet.

There are a hundred types of truffles, but five principal ones: three black and two white. Every type grows in different periods and in a different environment. They are similar, yet unique in taste and smell.

Black summer truffle is the most common and easiest to find. It grows from May to September. The rarest and the most expensive one is the white truffle that grows in autumn.

Prices change every week, based on production and demand. The average prices are:

• Tuber aestivum - summer truffle, 100 to 300 euros/kg

• Tuber uncinatum - black autumn truffle, 300 to 600 euros/kg

• Tuber borchii - spring white truffle, 300 to 600 euros/kg

• Tuber melanosporum - black winter truffle, 800 to 1500 euros /kg

• Tuber magnatum - white truffle, 1500 to 6000 euros/kg

An average truffle weighs about 30 grams, and it is often enough to make dinner.

- For pasta you need only 15 grams of truffle. If you buy a summer truffle, you can get a truffle-pasta for five euros, Matteo says.

- And if you buy straight from the hunter, you can get the best quality and the best price.

Fresh truffle last usually between 7 to 10 days, and sometimes even longer if they are stored well in the fridge. Products like truffle olive oil made with synthetic aroma maintain the taste longer.

This little Cocker Spaniel Wendy is a master in truffle hunting.

For me, the most fun part of the day was watching how the dogs found truffles. Truffles grow under the ground, and therefore you need a trained dog to find truffles. The most common truffle dog is Italian waterdog, Lagotto Romagnolo, because they have an excellent sense of smell. Matteo has eight dogs, and six of them are truffle dogs: three lagotto´s, a cocker spaniel, a Grifo Nero Valnerino (a breed from Umbria) and a lagotto mix.

- All of my dogs work in a different way, so everyone is specialized to hunt different types of truffles, Matteo explains.

- I start to train a new dog when they are three months old. I start by taking the puppy into the woods to follow the work of the older dogs. With time and training, truffle hunting becomes natural and fun, daily work for them.

In two hours the dogs found almost half a kilo of truffles, so they were well rewarded with slices of sausages. My reward was a delicious truffle lunch made by Matteo.

He also taught me how to make truffle dishes at home – it´s actually very easy. I learned that truffles go well together with simple and neutral tastes like risotto, pasta, pizza, fried eggs and fresh, neutral cheeses like mozzarella and burrata.

Easy appetizer: brie with honey and fresh truffles.

A better bruschetta.

My favourite: truffle risotto.

Burrata with looots of fresh truffles.

Italians love digestives after dinner...

I tried some homemade limoncello and some Sardinian liqueur, Mirto, made using berries and leaves from a plant called myrtle.

Would you like to hunt truffles too? For your own truffle hunting experience, contact Matteo at www.matteotruffles.com / info@matteotruffles.com.

Prices start from 80 euros / person. The price includes two hours truffle hunting experience with Matteo and the dogs and a delicious truffle-lunch with wine from Matteo´s family-winery. Laughter and good memories guaranteed.