The November White Truffle Exhibition In San Miniato
A vision into the festival of the annual white truffle fair
If you’re a foodie like us, the ‘tartufo bianco’ (white truffle) fair is definitely something to check out if visiting Tuscany in November. Truffle season in Italy runs from October until December, the fair occurs for three back to back weekends at San Miniato in November every year for 50 years, since 1969. 2020 will be the exhibition’s 50 year anniversary and COVID-19 will not stand in the way!
Activities
White truffles are a precious product for San Miniato, they have become the centerpiece of it’s local gastronomy which is why the fair is so grand and famous each year, it is recognised as an international exhibition. This type of truffle is served in some of the most prestigious restaurants worldwide. The locals host affordable truffle tours which we took part in, they showed us the forests where white truffles can be found (only a couple of centimetres underground) as well as the dogs that help them on their truffle hunt. A race was held between a handful of truffle hunting dogs to see who would find the white truffles first - we were amazed to see how intelligent the dogs are and it goes to show that the human hunters rely greatly on their dogs. The main breeds used for truffle hunting are: Cocker Spaniels, Jack Russells, Labradors, Braccos, Lagotto Romagnolo, Spinons and Pointers; we were lucky enough to see all of these beautiful breeds at the exhibition and many more - by the way a spinon named Luna won the race, she was adorable and very good at her job!
Once our agriturismo (farmhouse) is established, we plan to have a pet Labrador. A hairdresser we met in our town Gambassi, mentioned that she trains dogs to search for truffles! We plan to have some lessons with her and our future Labrador to train him/her, we vision this as an opportunity to host our own truffle tours with future guests and visitors - yes with our newly trained Labrador but also with professional truffle hunting dogs in hope of discovering some truffles of our own. If we're lucky enough to find truffles on our group hunt, we'll take them back for our chef to cook a wonderful dish or our guests can take home what they find.
Additionally, an auction of tartufo bianco also occurs at the fair where prices can reach up to 6000 euros per kilo - we were surprised to hear how precious these truffles can be! That's why some called it gold in the kitchen! Celebrities from around the world have attended this exhibition, including Cristiano Ronaldo.
Food
The fair not only sells white truffles but also exquisite Tuscan dishes that use the truffle as its main delicacy, the most common Italian dish that uses tartufo bianco is tagliatelle pasta with grated pieces of white truffle and olive oil - we devoured a bowl or two of these at the fair! We also enjoyed having a juicy medium rare beef steak with tartufo bianco grated on top and marinated in white truffle oil! We found that the fair promotes other organic foods such as olive oil, pecorino and salami, many pop-up stores had tasters and it was wonderful to see that the fair promotes and supports small businesses. We found that there were many ready made truffle products sold from small businesses such as sauces or spreads in jars to add to your pasta or to smother your freshly baked Italian bread with - we couldn’t leave without a couple of those!
Overall
It was a unique atmosphere to learn about how important white truffles are in San Miniato as well as worldwide, the tour was not only educational but also enjoyable - especially seeing the truffle dogs in action and a delicious experience too as we got to try some white truffles! As tartufo bianco is quite a rare fungus, it may be hard for some smaller businesses to gain attention and start selling successfully due to the rather expensive prices, therefore the fair helps to promote them and show us ordinary people how hard it is to actually find white truffles and why their hard work should be awarded justly, not solely because of the mouthwatering taste. Attending the fair also confirmed our wish to get a Labrador and host our own truffle tours as soon as our agriturismo is up and running! We recommend visiting the fair as it is enlightening, provides enticing Tuscan dishes, adorable truffle hunting jobs and an admirable atmosphere in the medieval town of San Miniato.
