What is truffle season

With hints of the Tuber magnatum, but much more affordable, White Spring Truffles combine classic truffle flavours with a natural scent of fresh garlic.

Experiment with the mouth-watering combination of garlic and truffle: give an extra richness to chicken tartlets, shave truffles into scrambled eggs for a gourmet brunch, or team them with seasonal foods like morels and lamb.

We use Cookies We use cookies to give you the best experience and to show you relevant advertising. Allow Cookies Learn More. Login Register. Home Truffle Guide. The Truffle Guide. Immerse yourself in the flavour of White Winter Truffles with some White Truffle Oil drizzled over your favourite pasta. As for what to look for in a truffle dish; "It's very important that you put a good white truffle on something hot so the heat of the dish brings the smell of the truffle up to your nose," says Michelin-starred Palma based chef Terry Giacomello, who's demonstrating how to make vacuum-dried egg white pasta, topped with white truffle shavings and egg yolk.

Giacomello believes that the best food to compliment the white truffle is scrambled eggs; "it has everything," he says, "because it's creamy and the truffle is dry, it has a very neutral taste and because there is the fat. But the smell of the white truffle comes from an essential oil which needs to be melted into something fat to distribute the smell all over your taste buds.

So the eggs have everything, they are creamy, fat, neutral tasting and hot. Giacomello dishes out his creation to his audience, who can purchase an extra shaving of white truffle at a price of twenty euros.

Whilst Alba's event is one of the largest truffle fairs in Italy, in the province of neighbouring Asti, Italy's smallest town, Moncalvo, holds its annual ' Fiera del Tartufo ,' - the oldest in the country- on the last two Sundays in October.

And around the medieval streets of Asti, home to Italy's oldest bare-back Palio horse race and the Asti Spumante sparkling wine, street food festivals are underway with top local chefs like Diego Bongiovanni showing off his favourite truffle recipes. In restaurants around Asti and Alba, the white truffle is the top of the menu with portions of the tuber weighed and grated over your dish and served alongside a bottle of Nebbiolo.

The region also has many famous cheeses, such as the goat cheese, Robiola Di Capra Fresca, the cow's cheese 'Sola' named because it resembles the sole of a shoe when it ages, and the Castelrosso, or Toma Brusca, a cheese made from a cow that has become so stressed by being taken up the mountain in summer that their milk becomes temporarily acidic.

Only a few wheels of it are made every year and it's considered a 'cheese of emotion'. Called tartufaia , these areas are a closely guarded secrets where only locals know where to find the natural delicacy. The animals are let loose to find the aroma emitted by the truffle spores. Harvesting is therefore highly skilled and time-consuming process.

Usually there is an opportunity to also taste what you have found. Knowing when the truffle season happens in Italy is all important, as the best way to eat truffles is as soon as they are removed from the ground. This makes foraging for and eating truffles a truly unique experience to include on your Italian itinerary.

Italy has several different seasons for truffles depending on the variety. Winter white truffles are found between October and early January, while the summer white truffle season begins in mid January and lasts until late April.

Black truffles also have a winter and summer season. Winter black truffle season runs from November to March, and the summer season is between May and September. Thus for around seven months of the year, Italy produces, consumes and exports a large quantity of truffles. The best time to visit and try the truffles fresh from the ground is in November when the truffle fairs take place and you can find the winter white and black truffles in abundance. Want to throw yourself in all things truffle?

Our friends at The Italian on Tour conduct immersive week long guided truffle experiences in the Le Marche region. Join them and go on your very own truffle hunt followed by a lunch of fresh pasta made with the aromatic bounty. Once they are out of the ground, truffles need to be prepared and eaten quickly. Despite every best effort, truffles especially the prized white variety do not travel well. If you can time your visit around a truffle festival, it will be a highlight of your trip to Italy.

A number of fairs or sagre food festivals and buyers markets are held throughout the year but most take place in fall or autumn. Truffle festivals showcase this prized foodstuff, and they are usually devoted to a particular type of truffle. The Australian truffle season runs from June to September with an annual event held in Manjimup to kick it off.

The popular event brings people together from all over the world to showcase the region's export-quality rare black winter truffles also known as Tuber Melanosporum. This celebration showcases the uniqueness of the black truffle and other culinary delights from the surrounding area and gives you the opportunity to join in a truffle hunt with trained sniffer dogs.