Deep in a thick forest in Italian Piedmont, the hunt for the white Alba truffle is in full swing. Excited, the dogs zigzag and dig in the ground. But this culinary treasure is becoming increasingly rare, undermined by climate change.
“Come on! Look for! Where is she?” Carlo Marenda, a truffle hunter in his spare time, calls Gigi, seven months old, and Buk, 13 years old, crosses between Spinone and Lagotto Romagnolo, known for their very fine sense of smell. On muddy ground, the autumn leaves crunch under the weight of the boots. Below a picturesque hillside vineyard, not far from Alba, the trails wind along the Rio della Fava, crossing damp terrain suitable for the growth of this “white gold”.
Sought after by gourmets and starred chefs around the world, the Alba white truffle, the most prestigious in the world, is an underground mushroom that grows in symbiosis with certain trees by attaching to their roots. Its intense and refined scent, a mixture of hay, garlic and honey, allows hunting dogs to detect it up to a meter deep.
Introduced to truffle hunting at the age of five by a family friend, Carlo Marenda, 42, founded the “Save the Truffle” association in 2015, alongside 'Edmondo Bonelli, researcher in natural sciences. It is a solitary octogenarian “trifulau”, Giuseppe Giamesio, known under the name “Notu”, the last descendant of a family with a century-old truffle tradition, who bequeathed him his dogs and his knowledge before his death in 2014. The message from the “maestro” as a testament: “If we want to avoid the disappearance of the truffle, we must protect the forests, stop polluting the waterways and plant new trees truffle makers.”
Ten years later, thanks to donations and the support of certain wine growers, the association planted more than 700 truffle trees in the hilly Langhe region, including poplars, oaks and lime trees. “Notu passed on to me his passion for truffle hunting and the preservation of trees,” confides Carlo Marenda, getting out of his metallic gray Fiat Panda 4X4, a favorite car for truffle hunters.
In 30 years, the areas dedicated to white truffles in Italy have fallen by 30%, gradually giving way to more profitable vineyards, but also to hazelnut groves. The Langhe hills supply a large quantity of hazelnuts to the chocolate giant Ferrero, founded in 1946 in Alba, a small prosperous town of 30,000 inhabitants.
But the main threat to the white truffle, the picking of which was classified in 2021 as UNESCO's intangible heritage of humanity, is climate change. Global warming, drought, deforestation and sudden temperature variations are all factors that are weakening the natural habitat of this fungus. To survive, the truffle needs cold and humidity. However, at the beginning of November, the thermometer rose to 20 degrees. “With the extension of summer, production drops,” laments Carlo Marenda.
The harvest, which runs from October to the end of January, is getting shorter. And while waiting for the extreme cold and snow, “the aroma of the truffles is not yet 100% and they keep less long”. The effect of the heavy rains of recent weeks can also be harmful: “If there is too little water, the truffle does not grow. If there is too much, it will rot.” Alerted by his dog Buk, he crouched on the ground to delicately scrape the earth with a narrow spade to extract a rather modest-sized truffle.
The white truffle, an endangered species? “Not at the moment. But if we do not act, it risks becoming so,” said Mario Aprile, president of the association of Piedmontese truffle researchers. “The white truffle cannot be cultivated, unlike the black one. Without trees, there are no truffles. We plant them to rebuild biodiversity.”
Faced with exploding demand and limited supply, white truffles are trading at a high price, reaching 4,500 euros per kilo this year at the great Alba fair, which ends on December 8. Two “twin” truffles with a total weight of 905 grams, a find by Mario Aprile, were sold for 140,000 euros on Sunday to a Hong Kong financial tycoon during the traditional Alba charity auction.
