Sample text from Autumn in Piemonte ~ Tartufi Bianchi ~ Diamonds in the Rough.

If you are travelling through the autumn countryside north of Alba and stop to look around you may see a small parked car half- hidden among the trees at the bottom of the valley. Look more carefully and a dog might dash out of the bushes and then disappear. Look again, and the shadowy figure of a man might be visible moving stealthily through the trees.

Something secret afoot? You are right: this is truffle season and what you have glimpsed is the ‘truffulaio’, the truffle hunter, quietly and very secretly going about his business. And it is very serious business indeed. White truffles are special to Piemonte and are not to be confused with the black truffle from France. The white truffle is the pinnacle of Piemontese cooking, the gastronomic equivilant of climbing the north face of the Eiger for a mountaineer, or holding a high C note for a soprano.

With truffles the aroma is 90 per cent of the pleasure. For me they are one of the very special foods of the world and would make my shortlist of the most remarkable taste sensations you could find anywhere. The Alba Truffle Market is the centre of the world truffle trade...