Tuscan Truffle Hunt!

We had an awesome experience hunting for truffles with our guide and trusty truffle-hunting dog, Nura! We walked a short distance into the woods while learning how truffles grow, how dogs are trained, and the best way to extract them. There are many varieties of truffles and a black variety grows around this particular area of Tuscany. They train certain breeds of dogs to hunt for them by smearing some truffle oil in balls that they start hiding for them at a very young age. 

Once Nura was off leash, she quickly went to work. She darted around the forest until she caught the scent and then she quickly started furiously digging. Truffles grow around the roots of trees so we watched for her to head to a particular tree and start enthusiastically wagging her tail. The goal was to keep a close eye on where she went and run to meet her at the tree. You have to be ready to pounce and tackle the dog away once the first edge of the truffle is visible, otherwise the dogs will destroy them with their digging. I have some videos below. It was so thrilling to see the tip of a truffle emerge (typically buried at least 8 inches below ground). Once Nura was restrained, the kids took turns gently extracting the truffles from the earth with the digging tools. In the course of 30 minutes, we had dug up 3 good-sized truffles. The truffles need to be harvested at the right moment- if they spend too long in wet earth, they will rot. If they come up too soon, they have to ripen in a specific way before they will be ready for consumption. 

Sadly, we had to turn our finds into the kitchen, but I did enjoy a truffle pasta later that week- perhaps made with one we had unearthed! 

In the afternoon, we drove to the nearby village of Peccioli to have a look around. We were quite surprised by this sculpture near the modern amphitheater just outside of town. 

Lovely wisteria by one of the town playgrounds

We were back in time for the second communal meal of the week: Pizza night! The weather had taken a turn so we were seated indoors for the evening. Maeve made quick friends with a little boy from Seattle and we enjoyed meeting and hanging out with his family.