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| The search for truffles, then and now |
Truffle hunting is a tradition which demands days immersed in a natural woodland with it's songs and wildlife, requiring patience and peace, moments to be intensely savoured.
To searh for truffles the presence of a dog specifically trained for the purpose is indispensable. The dog is kept in training, every truffle hunter having his own personal system. This he keeps to himself for the simple reason that each and every dog-man-truffle relationship is completely unique and varies only with the fantasy of the man and the indulgence or docility of the dog.
The harvesting period must be respected and it is also important that regulations controlling truffle hunting are respected and upheld, for example a hole left open is not a personal violation of the law but represents a fall in the production of truffles in that area in the following years.
Today's truffle hunters, like those of the past, have to have a lot of patience and free time. They get up in the dead of night to be the first in the woods at dawn and are ready to undertake long walks in the cold and damp autumn weather, often without finding anything.
Real truffle hunters know their area inch by inch, as wel as the indivi-dual plants, knowing also which produce truffles and which don't. The reasons are not exactly clear, rather like the “mystery” whih surrounds the underground treasure: the truffle. |
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