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The Tartufi Hunt and Olive Harvest |
02/12/2003 |
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Tartufi mushrooms are expensive at about USD $100
an ounce for white truffles and USD $30 for black truffles. The dogs are specially trained and are invaluable themselves. So you may begin to partly understand the nature of the hunt and why much of it goes on under the cover of darkness - obviously to hide the location of the tartufi's. Usually the mushrooms are found around oak, willow, hazelnut or poplar trees. The only way to join in a hunt is to be invited by the hunters themselves. For more information read on here.
The olive picking season starts somewhere in November and continues on through December. It is mostly done by hand although you may also see farmers hitting tree branches with bamboo canes to cause the olives to fall. Nets carpet the grounds to catch the olives sometimes around individual trees as the pickers move from one location to another, or across the whole grove to get every single olive. To read more about the olive season
read on here.
Some agriturismo's offer visitors the chance to join in the proceedings. The Castello di Cafaggio
near Impruneta in Chianti is one. |
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