A tip from a city tour guide and a little digging uncovered Italy’s long-ago barter deal for the unheralded Croatian truffle. It all began when someone in Istria unearthed the first of many white truffles in the 1960s.
They looked like potatoes but had a pungent odor, so the Croatians called them “Stinky Potatoes.” The farmers fed them to their pigs until the Italian truffle traders made them a deal they couldn’t refuse.
Many years passed before the Croatians realized this culinary gold was worth much more than the foods they were bartering for from Italy.
Article Posted: May 25, 2023
Truffles are on my mind.
I’m thinking about the thrill of unearthing black, warty fungi under the canopy of a gnarly Croatian oak. Or, better still, a white potato-like version of the tuber that would sell for thousands more dollars on the world market.
Our truffle-hunting adventure was doomed when we added the Lippizaner Stud Farm in Slovenia to our itinerary. I have no complaints about seeing The Dancing White Horses of Lipica, but we needed to make some tough decisions after my horse fix.
Something Has To Give
Chris and I were traveling southward from Slovenia into Croatia’s northern Istria region, an up-and-coming rival to Italy’s Tuscany for wine, olive oil, and truffles. We had booked two nights in the beautiful seaside town of Rovinj on Croatia’s Adriatic coast. We planned to take a day trip to see the Roman ruins in Pula before stopping at Babos Winery, a family-run winery in the one-horse town of Vodnjan. As the saying goes, there’s only so much time in a day.
From our overly ambitious wish list, we crossed off visits to Slovenia’s Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle (a castle within a cave), and finally, the truffle hunt in Croatia. We now had time to stop in Motovun to see its medieval charms high above the truffle forests. Tasty bowls of truffle soup would be our compromise (Istria: Racing Through Motovun). And the truffle dogs would have a rest.
Real or Fake - Does It Matter?
Our driver made the decision easier when he asked why we thought we could find a truffle in an hour. He figured the hunts were staged for tourists (see Rovinj: A Romantic Getaway in Istria), and I don’t doubt this occurs. Certainly, truffle hunters could justify the practice as training for their dogs. Yet, having read the English-language truffle hunting accounts of enthusiastic journalists, bloggers, and others, no one has yet to question the authenticity of this popular tourist activity. I think truffle planting isn’t the norm.
One question gnaws at my mind: had we gone searching for these enigmatic delicacies, would we now have thousands more dollars in our bank account?
Probably not.
Let’s assume that 1) we found the black or white gold before the truffle hunter’s highly-trained dogs, and 2) the landowner would let us keep the booty. It’s not so far-fetched. I’ve read that flies hover over the deeply buried truffles and that small mammals burrowing around the roots of trees can be signs.
I know that the usual reward is a farm-to-table pasta lunch with truffle shavings and a bottle of Istrian wine. That’s a nice finish to the hunt. One day I hope to find out.
Let Them Eat Truffles
If you have yet to taste truffles on your eggs or pasta, truffles are likely the last thing you would think of putting in your mouth. But you might reconsider after you’ve smelled and tasted a plate of pasta or a scrambled egg with truffle shavings.
Our guide in Pula told us the Istrians had no clue about their value when they exhumed their first truffles in the 1960s near Buzet, Croatia. As a result, the Istrians referred to truffles as “stinky potatoes” and fed them to their pigs. At the time, the Croatian part of Istria was part of socialist Yugoslavia and somewhat insulated from the capitalist West.
Meanwhile, the Italians, Croatia’s neighbors across the Adriatic Sea, knew about truffles. Centuries earlier, the Romans served tartufi (the Italian word for truffle) at banquets. Tartufi was said to have aphrodisiac qualities. Well, you’ve heard about those Roman parties, haven’t you?
Never mind that Istria and the rest of Croatia were the stomping grounds of the Romans for hundreds of years. Yet, somehow the locals didn’t get or didn’t keep the Romans’ truffle recipes.
We can debate the truffle’s aphrodisiac effects on humans, but it is hard to deny on pigs.
A mere whiff of truffle can transport sows into hormonal ecstasy (I hear). Pigs have a knack for rooting them out, but dogs have replaced pigs as the number one choice of truffle hunters because pigs tend to eat the merchandise. Moreover, dogs, unlike pigs, can be trained to relinquish a truffle for a cheaper treat.
Italy banned the use of pigs for truffle hunting in 1985 due to the damage they caused to the truffle forests. Croatian truffle hunters favor dogs, but the French still use pigs and dogs.
A New Found Respect
Italy banned the use of pigs for truffle hunting in 1985 due to the damage they caused to the truffle forests. Croatian truffle hunters favor dogs, but the French still use pigs and dogs.
“Stinky potatoes” gained some cachet in Istria when truffle traders in Alba, Italy, caught wind of Istria’s truffle finds. The traders bartered foods the Istrians couldn’t get in Yugoslavia for their undervalued truffles. As a result, the Croatian truffles were quietly sold under the tartufi d’Alba (truffles from Alba, Italy) label for many years until the Croatians wised up.
It wasn’t until 1999, when a record-breaking 1.31 kg white truffle was found in a forest near Livade, that Croatia began to celebrate the truffle. A dog owned by Giancarlo Zigante found that big boy, and it made the Guinness Book of World Records. But what happened next was a PR coup.
Rather than sell the truffle, Zigante invited the townspeople to dine on his giant truffle. News of his generosity spread around the world. In 2002 he opened Zigante Restaurant in Livade, which now shares Buzet’s truffle fame. To this day, Livade holds an annual truffle fair called Zigante Truffle Days. It takes place in the entire month of October.
Culinary Delights For All Seasons
Truffles come in different varieties. They are found worldwide, from Europe to North America, Australia, and the Middle East. However, most diners associate them with Italy, France, and Croatia.
Summer truffles, burgundy truffles, Périgord truffles, chocolate truffles …
Whoops, scratch that last item. Chocolate-covered truffles aren’t truffles. Their rough chocolate exteriors may remind us of black truffles, but the similarity ends there.
Inside there’s a chocolatey confection that is often a ganache (paste) made with chocolate and cream.
In other words, “no truffles were harmed in the making.
What's the “Ker-truffle?”
Today the truffle’s flavor is so highly valued by the world’s chefs and gourmands that they are weighed in grams like gold.
The white Italian Tuber Mangnatum variety is expensive due to its intense, earthy flavor. Depending on availability, logistics, and season, they can fetch $350 a gram.
So let’s figure your pasta needs at least eight grams of truffle shavings to satiate that truffle craving you now have.
That computes to $2,800 for the truffle sprinkle alone. In the years when truffles are scarce, 2 lbs of the white variety have brought in tens of thousands of dollars.
So who wants to go on a truffle hunt with me?
Istria’s Truffle Seasons
Black truffle – September to February
White truffle – Mid-September through December/January.
In case you now crave truffles, I found these three recipe books dedicated to truffles on Amazon. If you order them from my Website, I will get a small percentage of the cost, which will go toward my expenses running this travelogue.
Thank you, and enjoy!
Mushrooms and Truffles
(The Carluccio’s Collection)
Cooking with Truffles: A Chef’s Guide
By Susi Gott Séguret and Tom Michaels
The Truffle Cookbook Hardcover
by Rodney Dunn
This article is the 9th in my 19-part Balkan series, which began with ‘Road Tripping on the Balkan Peninsula’ in September 2023. There, you will find our itinerary to help you plan your trip.
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