Castello di Petrata
 

TRUFFLE GROOVE

 

Truffle is an exquisite tasting tuber with an intoxicating aroma and is the fruit of a fungus adapted to living underground. It has been discovered that the grounds of Petrata Castle are home to truffle fields which are able to produce black truffles and are the result of a delicately balanced environmental and ecological situation.
As well as looking after these spontaneous truffle fields, a cultivated truffle field has been created with about 400 plants occupying a surface area of about 1.2 hectares.
The main type of truffle plants (truffles form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of certain trees) now growing there are; oak, cerro, holm oak, oak etc., which produce Esteemed Black Truffle and the “Scorzone” or Summer Truffle; these symbiotic plants come from the Umbrian Regional Nursery, which is near the castle, between Spello and Cannara.
Truffles are characterized by an ability to cause the near total dissapperance of herbacea vegetation in the terrain where they normally reach maturation. These areas are commonly called “ pianelle” and they have a nearly round or elliptical shape, etc., and are to be found around the base of the truffle friendly tree.
Our truffles are found with the help of truffle dogs, that is, dogs trained to recognise the smell of the truffles and able to dig, with their front paws, the earth covering the truffle.
This operation is, at a certain point, interrupted by the truffle hunter, who then proceeds to extract the truffle from the ground manually.
There are various ways of conserving these truffles: refrigeration, freezing, in oil, drying, etc., In our restaurant preserved truffles are used a lot and they have a fundamental role in the preparation of many Umbrian dishes, for example:
-omelette with truffle;
fried eggs with truffle;
- tagliatelle and umbicelli with truffle;
-risotto with truffle;
- truffled lamb;
-bruschetta with truffle.
In Umbria there are a lot of markets and fairs showing and selling truffle, and these are held in Norcia, Valtopina, Città di Castello, Fabro, Gubbio, pietralunga, Scheggino, etc.