Submitted by Andie Kalkstein on the 2024 Winter NURS program in Italy…
This week we explored an estate where we saw things such as olive oil making and pasta production but what was really fun was truffle hunting. We met the man who has dedicated his life to hunting truffles since it is so tedious. He has two dogs who helped him to sniff out the truffles since they grow underground. The man told us about how the truffles grow from under the trees and how they mature for only 5 days before they are considered to be rotten and must decompose back into the ground. He mentioned though that missing the ripe truffle window is not a big deal because when the truffles decompose, they allow for many more truffles to grow so it in the end still is helpful. Learning about truffles was a lot of fun especially because they are so widely used in Italian cuisine. (Submitted on January 27, 2024)
