Summer Truffle-hunting Adventure/A Trip to Another Paradise

Introducing Mirabelle, specially trained dog (an interesting tale onto itself) to discover truffles...why not boar? They tend to eat what they find, and sometimes catch a human finger in the process!

She got off to a slow start sniffing the ground, stopping and starting for about 10 minutes, as we followed her at a distance. She was the guide on this one!

Finally she sat down, her signal that "this was the spot." Her trainer and truffle-finder side-kick scratched through the dirt to find the truffle. When he did, he inserted a screw driver into the earth and at the bottom of the truffle and pried it out, sniffed it, had the dog sniff it and rewarded her with a treat. We watched this process for about a half an hour, gathering 8 truffles weighing some 4 lbs.

We returned to the farm house at sunset to be treated to champagne and several ways to serve truffles including ice cream!

It was a very interesting experience in a gorgeous rural area replete with olive trees and bee hives and vineyards!