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Istra | Truffles – The Long-Forbidden Fruit of Slovenian Istria
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June 29, 2017

Truffles – The Long-Forbidden Fruit of Slovenian Istria

A hundred and more years ago, the people of Istria had never even heard of truffles, at least not Istrian ones. And all that time, they were hiding right under their feet, covered by a layer of reddish Istrian soil. This isn’t that surprising, given the fact that wealthy French and Italian gourmets rarely ventured into the Istrian hinterland, among the small and isolated stone houses, walls, vineyards and common land.

The first truffles were discovered in Istria by the Italians in the 1820s. Believe it or not, the story goes that the truffles were discovered when this part of Istria first had its plumbing installed. “This wasn’t that long ago and some of the older inhabitants of the Istrian villages can still remember how it happened. There are still some grandmas (or nonas, as they call them here), who are more than happy to share stories from their childhood about how Italian engineers found the first truffle while building the water distribution network in the Istrian hinterland. Others will tell you that it was a rich lady from Italy who showed the Istrian people where to find truffles. Whoever it was, they must have seen the Istrian landscape and thought that it looked so much like the landscape of Tuscany, which has a much longer history of truffle hunting, that they thought it was worth a try. And they were obviously right.” This is how IstraTerra’s storyteller Gabrijel Križman told the story of the Istrian truffle to a group of visitors from Sweden. People love to listen to him, because speaks with passion and accentuates every word with enthusiastic body language. After hearing the story, our guests often ask what the Italians were doing in Slovenia and are surprised to hear that this land used to belong to Italy. (If you want to know more about the nations that inhabit our beautiful Istria, click on this link.)

If the stories told by the elderly are true, the Istrian truffle owes its discovery to the construction of the water distribution network. Its popularity, however, is the result of a ban on truffle harvesting. With the ban, the Istrian truffle became a forbidden and highly sought-after fruit of nature. While the ban was in effect, truffle hunters managed to harvest between 150 and 200 kilograms of truffles in Slovenian Istria each year. Despite the fact that the ban had no effect whatsoever, it wasn’t until 2011 that truffle hunters became successful in their effort to lift the ban on truffle hunting and harvesting and Slovenian (Istrian) taverns or ošterije, as they call them here, were finally allowed to offer their guest authentic homegrown truffles.

The Istrian truffle thrives right along the edge of the forest, surrounded by beech, oak, poplar and blackthorn. Since March, we have been taking groups of visitors that are seeking new adventures and experiences, on truffle hunts with our truffle hunter Sara Kocjančič and her faithful dog companion Liza. Right now we are on the hunt for black truffles, but in late fall begins the season for hunting white truffles, which are the most highly prized truffle variety and are also referred to as white gold.

Truffles are generally the size of an egg, but you will never be able to find them on your own, because, unlike most fungi, they have no parts growing above ground. This is why hunting for truffles involves much more than just taking a stroll through the nearby woods. It is only thanks to Liza’s sharp sense of smell and the truffle hunter’s knowledge of the woods that we are able to offer our visitors this unique experience. This experience also includes the telling of stories and tales from the past, a brief lesson in history and the sharing of memories and funny anecdotes – all while you wait, impatiently, to have your first taste of home-made Istrian fuži with the truffles you just helped harvest.