Truffles and Taya the Truffle Dog

Truffles are one of the 1000 things to eat before you die but have never really been my favorite thing.  This past week I returned from a trip to Italy with my daughter and her boyfriend. We spend a few days in Chiusi and a few in Venice. While in Chiusi, we spend the morning with a truffle hunter and his dog Taya. After going off into the woods, we watched as little Taya leapt in delight as she found truffle after truffle. We learned about training truffle dogs and how, from before they even get their first taste of milk, they are exposed to truffle oil.  We learned that each season of truffles has different growing conditions with black truffles (what we found) grow in the woods, closer to the surface where white truffles are found much deeper and only grow near a source of water like a stream. Not only did we find a large # of truffles, but we had an amazing truffle-laced dinner….