The last private truffle tour Florence and cooking class of 2016 takes place in the Mugello Valley. The Mugello is a real wonder in anything you would like to bet in the tourist world.
It’s only still unjustly overlooked because unfairly compared to holiday behemoths such as the Chianti, the Valdorcia and Crete Senesi.
Take our truffle tour Florence for example. Mugello is in fact one of the top D.O.C. areas recognized by the Tuscany Region for truffle. In particular the Tuber Mugnatum Pico i.e. the exceptional white truffle. Other truffles present in the Mugello include the prized black truffle, Scorzone, Marzuolo and whitish truffle. less common is the black prized truffle but it’s not rarely found especially in the eastern part of the Mugello Valley.
Carmen asked me to join a family from the UK keen on experiencing our truffle tour Florence. That seemed likely to be the last Mugello&Tuscany’s truffle Tour of the year. In fact it was the 30th of December 2016 a bit beyond truffle season. Paul, his beautiful wife Jessica and adult children Tim and Pete seem really unshakeable, in their decision to set out for truffle hunting.
Watch the video referring to their truffle tour Florence experience and check our our truffle tours and cooking classes
They really wanted to give a special flavour to their Tuscan holiday with our truffle tour Florence. Truffle hunter Mauro and spaniel dog Stella are ready.
Raffaele let us in the main hall of his agritourism.Here he has just fed the huge fireplace with fresh oak logs to warm the large room.
It’s here that Raffaele gives us a little prep talk on truffles then off we go into the tartufaia.
Stella, Mauro’s elderly spaniel, seems rejuvenated by the group who put her at the centre of their attention. Mauro tells me he doesn’t like the Lagotto, the most common dog breed used for truffle hunting . He says, it has too many problems. Actually every dog if trained well may become a great truffle hunting dog. Mauro tells me that in some parts of France they even use pigs to find truffles.
As minutes piles up to reach an hour and a half, we start to understand that’s not going to be our lucky day.
In reality Stella has sniffed and dug a lot. Scant the results though apart from tiny bits of white prized truffle and scorzone.
But never mind for this Mauro has brought several extra small prized black truffle balls from home- Chef Cristian will use them in his fresh pasta and truffle cooking class.
Cristian actually deserves a few extra words.
His cooking skills are excellent and his teaching method is even better. I would like to tell this to the world. Some operators have a cooking class with the local elderly housewife with a knack for cooking. Some others hire a chef who needs constant translation. Mugello&Tuscany on the contrary has Cristian Borchi. Cristian combines 1st class cooking expertise, teaching skills, superlative empathy with the customers and a very good command of English.
If you need constant translation you lose half of the potential of the cooking class itself. In fact you should actually ineract with the chef as much as possible during the cooking class.
So when booking a cooking lesson in Tuscany take this into account.
I leave the happy English family with chef Cristian and stroll around the agritourism towards the Villa up the hill.
The view of the Mugello valley from up here is simply breathtaking. The Colla mountains behind and the Mugello Valley below with all its variety of differing rolling hills. The landscape unwinds towards the plain where lake Bilancino lies.
When I get back to the cooking class hall everything is ready for an unforgettable lunch.
A full meal with taglierini with cream sauce and truffle, potato tortelli with wildboar sauce and even gluten free gnocchi in truffle sauce. Second course with sirloin steak topped by a truffle crust.
The wine was also glorious with 1 Chianti Rufina riserva of the eastern Mugello and a Pinot Noir of the western Mugello which to many connoisseurs will be the next great wine terroir of Tuscany.
What a day!!
Paul and his family were taken to the railway station in Borgo right in time for the 3.32 pm train to Florence, an easy half an hour ride which grinds to a halt right in the centre of Florence a few minutes away from their B&B in Florence.
BOOK NOW YOUR TRUFFLE TOUR FLORENCE!!!! or ask Carmen for further information