Underground Heaven: Hunting for Precious Truffles in Croatia
May 2, 2021 ctn_admin
By Anita Draycott
Eureka! Candy, our truffle-hunting canine, has just struck pay dirt. It’s hard to believe this little nugget resembling a deformed tuber that Candy has unearthed is worth a fortune. But then I take a whiff. How can I describe the funky aroma? Is it musk, garlic, chocolate, sweat sock? Whatever, it’s olfactory porn to my nose. We’ve discovered the illusive “white gold” of Istria.
Istrian truffles aren’t as famous as those from Piedmont, Italy, but international gourmands recognize them as being just as good. Istria also produces some of Croatia’s finest wines, honey and olive oils. It’s been called Europe’s best-kept food secret.
Foraging for Buried Treasures
In 1999, Giancarlo Zigante and his dog, Diana, dug up a “joker” (term for humongous truffle) weighing 1.31 kilos near Motovun. Guinness World Records listed his find as the largest in the world, thus putting Istria on the truffle mecca map.
Four fungi-loving friends and myself had pre-booked our truffle hunt with the Karlic family in Paladini. We gathered at a picnic table while Kristina explained about the illusive fungi as she offered samples of truffle-spiked cheeses and sausages washed down with family-made wine. Fortifying us for our upcoming truffle hunt, Kristina whipped up an omelette oozing with black and white truffles.
After lunch we trekked into the nearby forest with Kristina’s brother, Ivan and his two dogs, Betty and Candy. Just as the fungi and tree roots have a special relationship, so do Ivan and his adorable mutts. When the dogs became rambunctious and started pawing the soil, Ivan grabbed the truffles before the dogs devoured them. After two hours, we scored two black beauties.
When they are three months old, Ivan begins training his Italian bred Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, known for their faithful temperament, keen sense of smell and work ethic. By giving a pup some truffle bits, it acquires a taste for them and associates that taste and smell with food. Ivan then teaches the dog to fetch truffle pieces he has buried about three centimetres deep. Every time Fido finds a truffle, he gets a treat—an example of Pavlov’s dogs in action.
Eventually, Ivan buries truffles deeper in the woods. For final training, a pup accompanies an experienced truffle dog. When the senior pooch sniffs out a nugget, it is distanced from the find and the pup is brought in to dig it up. Judging from their wagging tails, Betty and Candy, seem to love their work.
Truffle Mania
In Istria, the truffle-hunting season is celebrated by a plethora of rural festivals. We literally followed our noses to Zigante Truffle Days (weekends from mid September to mid November) in Livade where truffle aromas wafted from a large tent. We spent the afternoon grazing from stall to stall, sampling Istrian wines and an array of truffle-spiked products—even ice cream.
In 1999 Buzet was proclaimed the “City of Truffles.” On the second Saturday of September, folks flock there to celebrate the Festival of Subotina where they queue for a slice of the world’s biggest truffle omelette.
This year the egg count will total 2020 to which they add about ten kilos of truffles. Folk dancing, fireworks, pop concerts and biska—the local mistletoe-flavoured brandy—round out the festivities.
To say our group binged on truffles would be an understatement. Usually, we’d breakfast on scrambled eggs with truffle shavings. Later, we’d hike almost 300 metres to the top of Motovun where the cobbled streets are lined with truffle shops offering free tastings of oils, sauces, sausages, cheeses, pasta and chocolates.
When the late Anthony Bourdain visited Istria on his travel food show No Reservations on CNN, he remarked: “The next big thing is Croatia. If you haven’t been here you’re an idiot.” I agree Tony, but when your burps start to taste like truffles, it’s time to go home.
Truffle Trivia & Tastes
*The white truffle is considered to be superior in smell and taste to the black truffle. The exorbitant price (up to $6,000 per kilogram) is because no one has been able to cultivate these rare fungi that grow in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of oak, hazelnut and poplar trees.
* Follow Anthony Bourdain’s footsteps, to Konoba Mondo taverna in Motovun where they shave liberal doses of white truffles on everything from pasta to steak.
CANADIANS CAN TRAVEL TO CROATIA
Croatia started allowing Canadian tourists on July 1st, 2020. You need to provide a negative COVID-19 test, dated within 48 hours of arrival. This could be logistically challenging considering the time change, and the fact it can take a while to get from Canada to Croatia.
As of April 2021, Croatia is now allowing you to present proof of vaccination, or proof of recovery, to bypass quarantine, as an alternative to a recent negative test (also still accepted).
Visitors are asked to e-mail [email protected] (Croatian border control) stating their intention to cross the border into Croatia.
You also need to show proof of accommodation and fill out this online form.
There are no direct flights from Canada to Croatia. You would need to connect through the EU (such as Amsterdam or Frankfurt).
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