The oak forest along the Mirna valley below Motovun produces white truffles that compete directly with Alba's, and it produced the largest one ever recorded — a 1.31 kilogram specimen found in 1999. Istria's truffle reputation is not marketing.
Two truffles, two seasons
The white truffle runs roughly from September to January and peaks in October and November. It is the expensive one and the one worth planning a trip around. White truffle is never cooked — it is shaved raw over hot food at the table, and the smell arrives before the plate does.
Black truffles are available for most of the year in one variety or another, with the prized winter black in the colder months and the milder summer black from May onwards. Black truffle can be cooked and is what most year-round truffle dishes are made with.
If a restaurant offers fresh white truffle in July, something is wrong with the claim.
Where to go
Motovun sits on a hill above the forest and is the centre of it — a walled village with a view over the whole valley. Buzet, further up the Mirna, calls itself the city of truffles and holds events in the autumn. Livade, down on the valley floor, is where the trade actually happens.
The villages are twenty minutes apart. A day covering all three, with lunch in the middle, is one of the best days out in Istria and has nothing to do with the sea.
Going out with the dogs
Several families take visitors out with their dogs. It is genuinely worth doing: an hour in the woods, watching a lagotto work, and then usually a tasting afterwards.
Book it. These are working dogs and working families, not an attraction with opening hours. And go in autumn if you want to see a real find rather than a demonstration.
Where to stay
Apartment Gordana
Where to stay
Villa Karla
Reading a truffle menu
Fresh truffle is shaved at the table and priced by weight or as a supplement. If it arrives already on the plate in a busy kitchen in high summer, you are probably eating truffle oil — which is usually a synthetic aroma compound and not truffle at all.
Truffle products in shops follow the same logic. A jar of truffle paste is mostly mushroom with a little truffle; that is normal and it is fine, as long as the price reflects it. Check the percentage on the label.
The honest local dish is fuži — a hand-rolled pasta — with truffle, or a simple omelette with it. Both let the truffle do the work.
Buying truffles to take home
Fresh truffle keeps about a week and travels badly. If you want to bring something back, the preserved products are more sensible: truffle in oil, truffle honey, cheese with truffle.
Buy from a shop that also sells fresh product in season. It is a rough but reliable signal that they are in the actual trade rather than repackaging.
