It’s the best time of year for foodies in Italy. The Barbera grapes are being harvested, the Nebbiolo will be picked soon, but right now, we can find winter (white) truffles being sold on the streets and in markets all around Piemonte! Of course the center of activity is in Alba, where people are getting ready for the International White Truffle Festival to open up. In the mean time, however, there are plenty of offerings to be had. I found wonderful cheeses flavored with these rare white truffles to be a perfect match for the Barbaresco wines of the region. The Toma infused with white truffle seemed to be the best.

In my last blog entry, we went on a white truffle hunt in the Monferrato hills of Piemonte. This time, we will visit the town of Alba and shop for these culinary delights at the street market, while we wait for the truffle fair to open up.

In shopping for white truffles, I found summer (dark) truffles also readily available. Watch the video (in Italian) as I peruse the outside markets looking for white truffles. The vendor (who was kind enough to shoot the segment twice!) said that the rare white truffle is selling for roughly 300 Euro per etto, or roughly $125 per ounce! Even if you don’t understand Italian, watch the short video to see these truffles – Hmmmm, how will we use these back in the kitchen?