White truffles are the diamonds of the culinary trade and this tiny town in Piedmont is lucky enough to be a mine of these white lumps. The world’s greatest chefs converge here annually for the Fiera del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba, the White Truffle Market and Auction. You have to be invited to attend the auction, where the bidding starts at more than 1,600 pounds a kilo and some truffles go for more than 1000 pounds each, but the rest of us are welcome at the market and fair and will still get a chance to try one of the world’s most expensive funguses. Looking like a cross between a mushroom and a cauliflower, the musky flavours of these strange looking growths are supposed to make women more amiable, if you know what I mean, and enhance the other flavours of the region which also include snails and Barolo wine.

The fair runs for much longer but the truffle market usually runs for five weekends around the end of October. Most of the sellers are local farmers who take their eyes off the rest of their produce for a few weeks to massively supplement their income hunting the white truffle.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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