Truffle Hunting in Split
While we were in Split for a few days, Richard arranged for us to go truffle hunting for my birthday. I had no idea what to expect. It was one of the coolest things we’ve done during our travels these past few months by far!
For some background, Istria is the area of Croatia known for truffle hunting. Split, however, is not in Istria but is in Dalmatia. In Istria, there are a lot of truffle hunting outings one can go on and they are quite expensive. In Split, there is only one option, Truffle Hunting, which is run by a father and daughter and their three adorable truffle hunting dogs. This organization has just been around for a couple of years and it is so clear that they absolutely love what they do and really care for their expert dogs.
The tour is private and started with us getting picked up near our accommodation in Split by Ivana. We were driven to the woods, about 45 minutes from Split, and throughout the drive, Ivana shared a lot about truffle hunting, their business, and their dogs. We met her father, Tonći, and two of the dogs, Aldi and Indi, there and began our hunting.
The dogs are trained to find the truffles and begin digging. The way they are trained is by putting truffle oil on their mom’s nipples when they are first born so they form the positive food association right from the get go. The pups start digging and then stop and let Tonći, Ivana, or the guests finish the job. At times, we couldn’t find the truffle right away so Tonći would summon the dogs back to do a bit more digging for us.
After the truffle was retrieved, Ivana or Tonći would cover the spot back up so the spores would stay underground and grow more truffles. They were also very mindful of only digging once near one tree and then moving on so as to not over harvest any particular area. The tours are taken to different parts of the woods each time for this same reason. This is an example of ecologically sustainable harvesting in practice.
When tours weren’t able to operate during COVID, Tonći and Ivana took the time to scout out locations for truffle hunting so that they would have a vast array of places to go. This was done to minimize the ecological impact of truffle hunting by going to a diverse selection of places.
Ivana and Tonći chose to work with dogs instead of pigs for a few reasons. One of these is to minimize the environmental impact as pigs cause more damage to the surroundings because of how they dig. When we were out with Tonći and Ivana, they would point out where wild pigs had dug for truffles and it was clear how much more earth is disturbed in their hunting. Additionally, it is a lot easier to keep the dogs from eating the truffles while this is quite difficult with pigs.
After we found about a dozen truffles, it was time for lunch that Ivana prepared. We were not expecting such a gourmet spread, especially given that it was prepared in the woods with equipment she pulled from her SUV.
The first course was a board of various delicacies with truffles in them — truffle cheese, truffle focaccia, truffle honey, truffle salami, Soparnik (a special Dalmatian dish which is a flat bread filled with Swiss chard), and a yogurt truffle dip. We were given three different types of brandies that were infused with truffles. All of these items were either made by Ivana’s family or locals they knew.
Meanwhile, Ivana prepared a fresh pasta dish. She made a truffle cream sauce with two different kinds of truffles she shaved on the spot. The pasta was so flavorful, delicious, and rich. We were given a bottle of white wine to accompany the meal which complemented it perfectly.
For dessert, we had this unbelievable chocolate ball that had crispy truffles inside. That description does not do it justice but trust me, it was one of the best desserts we’ve had to this day.
Ivana knew that it was my birthday and made it even more special by lighting a birthday candle with dessert and bringing out birthday balloons.
The experience was educational, fun, and delicious. It was such a joy to get some time in the woods with their sweet dogs searching for truffles. The price for the whole outing was shockingly reasonable and absolutely worth it.
If you are ever in the Split area, this is a must do!
