2005 Piemonte White Truffle Report?

[Bill Klapp]

I'm on my way to the Piemonte Thursday for a few weeks. Do any of our Italian friends have a report on what kind of year we can expect for tartufi bianchi? Grazie!

[cibo susci]

I will be there in Nov I can not wait!!

[vinobiondo]

I will be there in Nov I can not wait!!

←

Somebody help us out!! I leave in 12 days and am dying for some word from someone in the know. Inquiring minds...

[pedro]

Isn't way too early for truffles?

[boris]

Bill was wondering ( and so am I) about the late summer weather. Was it a wetter than normal summer in Northern Italy which would predict a great year for the truffle?

I've tried to search for weather reports, but can only get day to day - not a summary of August and Sept.

PS - Bill thanks for the advise re Da Renzo.

Mark

[robert brown]

For those who don't know, go to this link for weekly truffle reports that I believe to be candid and informative, but only in Italian:

http://www.albatartufi.com/

[kellytree]

Apparently this year there are tons of truffles - prices are down and the quality is excellent

[hathor]

The weather in Umbria just sucked this August! Rain, rain, cold, rain. I wore my fleece all of August!!!!

The porcinis have been fantstic.

The uova (spelling?) are incredible.

The black truffles....people are giving them away they have so many.

And that's the funghi report from northern Umbria.

[docsconz]

Sounds like a silver lining in those clouds...ok maybe a gold lining:laugh: Where I live when it rains all we get is water (not that that is so bad). It's funny, our August, which is usually or at least often, wet and chilly was stunningly beautiful weatherwise - more like what I would expect from Italy!

[divina]

black truffles everywhere in FLorence!!!

Of course they come from Umbria!

Has been wet here too. But the sun came out and this week PORCINI GALORE>. bought some huge ones that came from Calabria.

Funny I was in Calabria at the peperoncino festival last week!

[pedro]

The first white truffles of the season are starting to arrive to some restaurants in Spain. Not big, neither specially aromatic, but they're the first.

[Andrew Fenton]

Okay, I haven't had any truffles yet. But the porcinis! The porcinis are amazing this year. Everywhere you go in the hills in Lazio there are little stands where people are selling them: plump, self-important looking mushrooms, just crying out, "Andrew! We are cold and lonely! Take us home and put us in a nice warm frying pan!" And I feel bad, because I am just one person and can only eat so many mushrooms.

But I'm doing my part, mind you. I was at dinner tonight at a terrific restaurant in Testaccio (Antico Forno, on the Via Amerigo Vespucci) and had roasted porcini as a secondo. Super-simple: just roasted with salt, pepper and oil, but they melted in my mouth like nobody's business. Oh, man, was that ever good.

[jturn00]

I am leaving for Italy on the next week.... I will be in umbria and tuscany. Any ideas on what I should look out for or special events due to the truffles?

[Bill Klapp]

I've answered my own question! Just back (with a tartufo bianco weighing in at just shy of a third of a pound!). The truffles are really good (for first of the season) and priced (at the time of the Alba truffle fair which, along with Christmas week, is the highest price) at 200 Euro for 100 grams, or about $1,100 per pound. I have my own truffle man, who says that by November, the truffles will be exceptional. (Wine may not fare as well. The barbera was harvested before the rains, and could be the finest since 1990, according to some producers. Some got their nebbiolo in before a week-long rain, others didn't, so barolo, barbaresco and nebbiolo will be hit or miss.) In other news, it is a record year for porcini. For a brief moment, there were rumors that they were being dumped for 1-2 Euro a kilo out in the countryside, and many friends were harvesting their own. Sweet, delicious and abundant! Also a great year for ovuli reali, fenferli and other mushrooms, as well as a super year for sweet peppers, which are also dirt cheap. If anybody is going, don't miss Lalibera in Alba, which had 8 different porcini offerings, including shaved raw like white truffles in a mound over parmesan with an egg yolk-mustard sauce drizzled around the edges! Buon appetito!

[Varmint]

It sounds like I need to invite Bill over to dinner soon!

Thanks for the report.

[albiston]

Host note: the discussion regarding Filipot and dining in Piemonte has been moved here.

[robert brown]

The last report from the usually candid and reliable "Borso del Tartuffo" says that the truffles gathered so far are compromised by too much humidity. We'll see what the next one says, probably in a few days.

[robert brown]

This week's truffle report talks of slowly improving quality in the face of short supply. Prices are 2250 euros a kilo for less than 500 grams and 2250 for more than 500 grams.

[divina]

in Florence we also have white truffles, right now going for 200 an etto or 2,000 a kilo.

The white truffle festivals are in San Miniato , on the way to Pisa the 2,3 an 4th weekends and San Giovanni D'asso ( near Siena) hte 12,13 19 and 20th.

[robert brown]

This week's report speaks of a small increase in demand that is in concert with a small increase in suppy. Overall, however, there are not enough truffles to keep up with demand. What is coming on to the market is of improving quality. While the site lists the same prices as last week (2250 euros per kilo for purchases under half a kilo and 2000 for orders more than half a kilo), prices were moving up towards the end of the week.

[hathor]

Citta di Castello had their truffle 'mostra' last weekend. Very local affair, most of the truffles being from Peitralunga, Citta, Gubbio and Aqualungha. My very unscientific impression was the prices seemed pretty much the same as last year, and there was quite a good supply. But, that's a very, very rough evaluation of our local market.