The Great British Truffle Hunt
We are walking across damp, lush grass on a hill in the Somerset countryside, when all of a sudden Tom Lywood stops and removes a bugle from the wooden box he is carrying. ‘We need this, otherwise we won’t find any truffles,’ he says, before blowing into it three times. The strident sound echoes across the valley. As the last echo dies away, his two dogs race towards the wood ahead. The hunt is on.
The truffle is the subterranean fungus with a heady, rich, addictive flavour. The eye-wateringly expensive white variety is commonly associated with Italy, but its darker counterpart, the black truffle, is prevalent in the woods, back gardens and even city parks of England.
Nigel Hadden-Paton, the director of Truffle UK, explains that this has always been the case: ‘I have an Encyclopaedia Britannica from the 1890s, and even that talks about the truffle markets of the 19th century,’ he says. ‘The truffles were the size of potatoes, and trestle tables would be groaning with them.’
Unearthed - a precious black truffle, the 'woodland diamond'
It might look like a lump of coal, but with a value of approximately £300 per kilogram, this delicious ingredient is more of a woodland diamond. Common they may be, but the secret comes in knowing how to find them.
Tom Lywood is one of just a handful of truffle hunters currently working the woods in the UK. Joining him for the day on a top-secret location in Somerset (it cannot be revealed for fear of poachers) is a thrilling and unusual experience. As we trample across the muddy ground, he explains that the best hunting can only be done either early in the morning or at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, as that’s when the truffle perfume is at its strongest.
Once let loose in the woods, Lywood’s specially trained dogs chase the scent. Every now and then they start scrabbling at the ground, and he is swiftly behind them with a rewarding titbit and a trowel to dig up the find.
Many associate truffling with pigs, but Tom is quick to point out that they have rarely been used for hunting in England. ‘French hunters would often lose their fingers to the pigs,’ he says gravely. Dogs are easy to train, and also easier to dissuade from eating the goods. Hestia and Valentino (along with Brenda, Lywood’s third dog) are Lagotto Romagnolos, the breed typically associated with modern truffle hunting, but really any dog can be trained to do the job.
Hunters have been known to rub truffle oil into the teats of their bitches, so that from an early age the puppies come to associate the flavour of truffle with pleasure. Hadden-Paton, who dabbles in a spot of hunting himself, trained his own dog by slotting a bit of truffle-oil-soaked rusk into a squash ball. After a few games of catch, she was soon mad for the scent of truffle.
‘Anybody who has an affinity with a dog can train them,’ he states. ‘It’s not difficult.’
Tom blows his bugle three times to tell his dogs that the truffle hunt is on
So why – if the dogs are easy to train and the truffles common – isn’t everybody doing it? ‘Truffle culture has always been quiet,’ says Lywood. ‘It’s part of the folklore.’
Another issue is the fact that the truffle season is at its height at the same time as the shooting one – not exactly the ideal moment to be ferreting around in a forest. ‘Shooting pays for the majority of forestry in England and you can’t change things overnight. You have to build a relationship with a gamekeeper, because the last thing he wants is his woods disturbed,’ he adds.
Hadden-Paton sources truffles from all over the world to keep London’s best restaurants in supply and is convinced that growing truffles on a commercial scale in the UK is the future. The valuable fungi are a quirk of nature, subject to countless environmental factors, but things can be done to encourage their growth. For this reason he has a business selling trees that have been infected with truffle spores, so that anyone, providing they live on ground with chalk or limestone, can grow their own.
Nigel Hadden-Paton (centre) assesses a freshly hunted truffle, alongside Tom Lywood and Fiona
In fact, Truffle UK receives at least three calls a week from people thinking they already have truffle growing in their back garden. ‘If you’re on chalk and you have beech, oak, hazel, hornbeam or birch, chances are you’ve got truffle,’ says Hadden-Paton.
Lywood, a self-confessed eccentric, takes more of a romantic view of the pastime. ‘We all want to be outside, working our dogs and hunting,’ he muses. ‘With truffling there is hunting, but no kill. That’s the secret of it.’
A couple of hours and a respectable bounty later, we amble back down the hill. Conversation on the subject of truffles is in full flow until we come across another dog walker, at which point we are hastily silenced. ‘England is going to be full of truffle hunters soon,’ Lywood says, a touch wistfully.
Eating buttery truffles on toast later that evening, I can understand why.
For more information about Truffle UK: 01935- 83819, www.truffle-uk.co.uk
Photography: Andrew Robinson/Rex Features
The truffle is the subterranean fungus with a heady, rich, addictive flavour. The eye-wateringly expensive white variety is commonly associated with Italy, but its darker counterpart, the black truffle, is prevalent in the woods, back gardens and even city parks of England.
Nigel Hadden-Paton, the director of Truffle UK, explains that this has always been the case: ‘I have an Encyclopaedia Britannica from the 1890s, and even that talks about the truffle markets of the 19th century,’ he says. ‘The truffles were the size of potatoes, and trestle tables would be groaning with them.’
Unearthed - a precious black truffle, the 'woodland diamond'It might look like a lump of coal, but with a value of approximately £300 per kilogram, this delicious ingredient is more of a woodland diamond. Common they may be, but the secret comes in knowing how to find them.
Tom Lywood is one of just a handful of truffle hunters currently working the woods in the UK. Joining him for the day on a top-secret location in Somerset (it cannot be revealed for fear of poachers) is a thrilling and unusual experience. As we trample across the muddy ground, he explains that the best hunting can only be done either early in the morning or at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, as that’s when the truffle perfume is at its strongest.
Once let loose in the woods, Lywood’s specially trained dogs chase the scent. Every now and then they start scrabbling at the ground, and he is swiftly behind them with a rewarding titbit and a trowel to dig up the find.
Many associate truffling with pigs, but Tom is quick to point out that they have rarely been used for hunting in England. ‘French hunters would often lose their fingers to the pigs,’ he says gravely. Dogs are easy to train, and also easier to dissuade from eating the goods. Hestia and Valentino (along with Brenda, Lywood’s third dog) are Lagotto Romagnolos, the breed typically associated with modern truffle hunting, but really any dog can be trained to do the job.
Hunters have been known to rub truffle oil into the teats of their bitches, so that from an early age the puppies come to associate the flavour of truffle with pleasure. Hadden-Paton, who dabbles in a spot of hunting himself, trained his own dog by slotting a bit of truffle-oil-soaked rusk into a squash ball. After a few games of catch, she was soon mad for the scent of truffle.
‘Anybody who has an affinity with a dog can train them,’ he states. ‘It’s not difficult.’
Tom blows his bugle three times to tell his dogs that the truffle hunt is onSo why – if the dogs are easy to train and the truffles common – isn’t everybody doing it? ‘Truffle culture has always been quiet,’ says Lywood. ‘It’s part of the folklore.’
Another issue is the fact that the truffle season is at its height at the same time as the shooting one – not exactly the ideal moment to be ferreting around in a forest. ‘Shooting pays for the majority of forestry in England and you can’t change things overnight. You have to build a relationship with a gamekeeper, because the last thing he wants is his woods disturbed,’ he adds.
Hadden-Paton sources truffles from all over the world to keep London’s best restaurants in supply and is convinced that growing truffles on a commercial scale in the UK is the future. The valuable fungi are a quirk of nature, subject to countless environmental factors, but things can be done to encourage their growth. For this reason he has a business selling trees that have been infected with truffle spores, so that anyone, providing they live on ground with chalk or limestone, can grow their own.
Nigel Hadden-Paton (centre) assesses a freshly hunted truffle, alongside Tom Lywood and FionaIn fact, Truffle UK receives at least three calls a week from people thinking they already have truffle growing in their back garden. ‘If you’re on chalk and you have beech, oak, hazel, hornbeam or birch, chances are you’ve got truffle,’ says Hadden-Paton.
Lywood, a self-confessed eccentric, takes more of a romantic view of the pastime. ‘We all want to be outside, working our dogs and hunting,’ he muses. ‘With truffling there is hunting, but no kill. That’s the secret of it.’
A couple of hours and a respectable bounty later, we amble back down the hill. Conversation on the subject of truffles is in full flow until we come across another dog walker, at which point we are hastily silenced. ‘England is going to be full of truffle hunters soon,’ Lywood says, a touch wistfully.
Eating buttery truffles on toast later that evening, I can understand why.
For more information about Truffle UK: 01935- 83819, www.truffle-uk.co.uk
Photography: Andrew Robinson/Rex Features