Anthony Bourdain described truffles in Croatia as the “next big thing.” Discover how truffle hunting in Croatia has become one of the best foodie experiences.
It’s hard to believe this small dirty nugget resembling a knobby potato that a dog named Betty has dug out of the ground is worth a fortune. But then I take a whiff.
How can I describe the heady aroma of a truffle? Is it earth, musk, garlic, honey, hay, sweaty sock? Whatever, it’s intoxicating. I discovered the elusive “white gold” of Istria while truffle hunting in Croatia. And the hunt has just begun.
Seductive and mysterious, white truffles were thought to be an aphrodisiac by the ancient Greeks
and Romans. Their exorbitant price (up to $4,000 per kilogram based on availability and quality) is due to
their unpredictable growth habits.
The popularity of hunting for truffles in Croatia arose because no one has been able to cultivate these rare and elusive fungi that grow in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of oak, hazelnut, and poplar trees.
Four foodie friends and I rented a villa in the medieval hilltop town Motovun in October to
coincide with the truffle season and festivities.
Nowhere is truffle hunting more prevalent than in the northern Croatian region of Istria. Croatian truffles
aren’t as well-known as those from Piedmont, Italy, and parts of Franc. But they are recognized as being
just as good by international gourmands.
Along with truffles in Croatia, Istria also produces some of the country’s finest wines, honey, and
award-winning olive oils. It’s been called the best-kept food secret in Europe.
Truffle Mania
In Istria, the truffle-hunting season is celebrated by many rural festivals. We followed our
noses to the annual Tuberfest in the neighboring hamlet of Livade. The unmistakable truffle aroma
wafted out of the entrance. Visitors pay a small sum for admission under a large tent.
The small admission fee gets you a wine glass, and you can spend your afternoon going from stall-to-stall sampling Istrian wines, brandies, and all sorts of products made with Croatian truffles—from olive oil to pasta to chocolate to ice cream. You can check out our take on truffles with this mushroom and black truffle pasta recipe.
As much as I adore truffles, I found the truffle ice cream a bit of a stretch.
Local chefs perform cooking demonstrations, and truffle hunters from Croatian and worldwide submit their entries into the white truffle contest. The winning tuber is the largest and most beautiful.
In the normally sleepy town of Buzet, virtually everyone who is anyone in Istria gathers on a mid-September weekend to celebrate the Festival of Subotina.
As evening approaches, thousands of locals queue for a slice of the world’s largest truffle omelet, fried up in a mind-bogglingly large pan on the town’s main square. This year they will crack 2022 eggs to add about ten kilos of truffles. The festivities end with folk dancing, fireworks, alfresco pop concerts, and large quantities of biska—the local mistletoe-flavored brandy.
Size Matters
In 1999, Giancarlo Zigante and his dog, Diana, dug up a “joker” (the 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.
My group 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 Croatia truffle hunt, Kristina whipped up an omelet 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.
It takes about three months for winter white truffles to mature. At that point, their spores release that classic addictive aroma from beneath the earth. Often the truffle hunter and his dogs have their best luck early in the autumn evenings when the cold air keeps the perfume close to the ground.
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.
Ivan begins training his Italian-bred Lagotto Romagnolo dogs when they are three months old. The dogs are known for their faithful temperament, keen sense of smell, and strong work ethic. By giving a pup some truffle bits, they acquires a taste for them, and they associate that taste and smell with food.
Ivan then teaches the dog to fetch truffle pieces he has buried about one inch deep. Every time the dog finds a truffle, he gets a treat—an example of Pavlov’s conditioning experiments with 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.
Every once in a while, the dogs became super rambunctious and started sniffing and pawing at the
soil. Ivan’s job was to grab the truffles before the dogs devoured them. After a couple of hours, we
found two black beauties that we purchased and took back to our villa.
To say our group binged on truffles would be an understatement. Usually, we’d dine on scrambled eggs with truffle shavings. Later, we’d hike almost 300 meters 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.
We discovered Konoba Mondo, a terrific Old-World restaurant where you can have your white truffles
liberally shaved on all sorts of dishes from soufflés to steak to pasta. They even infuse honey with truffles
and use it in a panna cotta dessert.
Konoba Mondo was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s travel food show “No Reservations” on CNN. When the late Bourdain visited Istria on his show, he remarked: “The next big thing is Croatia. If you haven’t been here, you’re an idiot.”
All in all, the hunt for truffles in Croatia was a huge success. The prices for the villa rental, truffles, and truffle meals in Istria were more reasonable than in Piedmont, and the quality was fantastic. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. When your burps start to taste like truffles, it’s probably time to go home.
Truffle Trivia
The record price paid for a single white truffle was set in December 2007. Macau casino owner Stanley Ho paid US$330,000 for a specimen weighing 1.5 kilograms.
The white truffle is considered superior in smell and taste to the black truffle.
The white truffle should be eaten raw in thin shavings over bland foods such as pasta, rice, and eggs.
You can permeate your eggs with pungent truffle flavor by storing them raw with a truffle in a sealed glass jar for about three days. You can also flavor rice this way.
Store truffles unwashed, wrapped in a paper or cloth towel in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator, and use within 15 days.
Truffle oil, a cheaper alternative to fresh truffles, is delicious drizzled over scrambled eggs, beef carpaccio, and wild mushroom soup.
Discover The Truffles in Croatia For Yourself
Truffle hunting in Croatia is an incredible experience for any food-lover. These delicious and hard-to-find delicacies. These must-try delights will explode your flavor senses. However, they might spoil you for some of the cheaper options.
If you have a favorite Croatian truffle recipe, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below, and I’ll be sure to add it to our list.
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