By AFP - Agence France Presse
White truffles, Italy's gold, threatened by climate change
by Brigitte HAGEMANN
Deep in a dense forest in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, the hunt for Alba's white truffle is on, with lively dogs zigzagging and digging in the damp earth.
But the culinary treasure is becoming increasingly rare, damaged by climate change.
“Go and find it! Where is it?” Carlo Marenda, a part-time truffle hunter, calls Gigi and Buk, seven-month-old and 13-year-old crosses between the Spinone Italiano and Lagotto Romagnolo breeds, prized for their keen sense of smell.
Autumn leaves crunch under the weight of boots sinking into the muddy soil. Below a picturesque vineyard on a hill not far from Alba, trails wind along the Rio della Fava, crossing wet ground ideal for growing truffles.
Sought after by gourmets and starred chefs all over the world, the Alba white truffle, the most prestigious in the world, is an underground fungus that grows in symbiosis with certain hardwood trees, attaching itself to their roots.
Its intense and refined aroma, a mixture of hay, garlic, and honey, allows hunting dogs to detect it, even though the truffle is sometimes buried 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, a researcher in natural sciences.
It was a lonely octogenarian “ trifulau”, Giuseppe Giamesio, known as “Notu” and the last descendant of a family with a centuries-old truffle tradition, who revealed his secrets to him and bequeathed his dogs shortly before he died in 2014.
His message was a testament: “If we want to prevent the disappearance of the truffle, we must protect the forests, stop polluting the waterways and plant new ‘truffle’ trees.”
Ten years later, thanks to donations and the support of some winegrowers, the association has planted more than 700 truffle trees in the Langhe mountain area, including poplars, oaks, and lindens.
Notu's legacy
“Notu passed on his passion for truffle hunting and tree preservation to me,” said Marenda, stepping out of his metallic gray Fiat Panda 4X4, the truffle hunters' car of choice.
In the last three decades, the areas dedicated to white truffles in Italy have fallen by 30%, gradually giving way to more lucrative vineyards but also to hazelnut groves.
The Langhe hills supply a large quantity of hazelnuts to chocolate giant Ferrero, which was founded in 1946 in Alba, a small, prosperous town of 30,000 inhabitants.
But the main threat to the white truffle, whose harvest was classified as an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2021, is climate change.
Global warming, drought, deforestation, and sudden changes in temperature are all factors that weaken the fungus's natural habitat.
To survive, the truffle needs cold and humidity. At the beginning of November, however, the temperature was 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit).
“With the prolonged summer weather, production is falling,” he lamented.
Rising prices
The harvest, which runs from October to the end of January, is getting shorter. And with the late arrival of cold weather and snow, “the aroma of the truffles is still not 100%, and they don't keep as long,” said Marenda.
The last descendant of a family with a centuries-old truffle tradition revealed his secrets to Marenda and bequeathed his dogs shortly before he died in 2014.
Abundant rainfall, such as that seen in recent weeks, can also be harmful, he said.
“If there's too little water, the truffle doesn't grow. If there's too much, it rots.”
Alerted by Buk, Marenda crouched down on the ground to gently scrape the earth with a narrow shovel, extracting a truffle, albeit of a rather modest size.
As to whether the white truffle is on the verge of extinction, experts say it's not too late.
“Not yet. But if we don't act, it could happen,” said Mario Aprile, president of the Piedmont truffle hunters' association.
“The white truffle can't be cultivated, unlike the black truffle. Without trees, there are no truffles. We planted them to rebuild biodiversity,” said Aprile.
Faced with limited supply and growing demand, the white truffle is being marketed at a high price, reaching 4,500 euros per kilo this year at the International White Truffle Fair in Alba, which ends on December 8.
Two “twin” white truffles, linked to the same root and unearthed by Aprile, were the stars of the world's annual white truffle charity auction in Alba on Sunday.
Weighing a total of 905 grams (2 lbs), the fungi were sold for 140,000 euros ($150,000) to a Hong Kong finance magnate.
bh/ams/ju
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