On Monday we went truffle hunting in the woods. Truffles, for those of you who don't know, are extremely expensive mushroom-type foods. They're not really like typical mushrooms that you would find in a grocery store, though. They're found underground near the roots of trees in a forest. They develop some sort of symbiotic relationship with the surrounding trees. Truffle hunters typically use either dogs or pigs to smell out the truffles; we had two dogs with us. We found approximately 30 grams, probably about average for a trip few the woods. Since truffles cannot be grown, and they only grow on their own in the wild, they are in very short supply. Some people love the taste of them (I don't know why, they're nothing special), so the demand is much higher than what can be supplied. The most rare type, white truffles, will sell for up to $2000 euro/kg! I don't really get truffles, I don't think they taste all that great, and I definitely would never buy any for that price.
Later on that day, we visited Villa Banfi, the biggest vineyard we've been to yet. Not coincidentally, it's American-owned. We got a tour of the wine-making process, which we've already seen countless other times at other vineyards. But what set this one apart was the sheer quantity of wine that they produce. We walked through room after room of giant wooden barrels full of wine. I've never seen such a huge winery. We also had a tasting of a few of their wines, they were all delicious. One of them sells for 75 euro a bottle, called Brunello di Montalcino, it was very very good. I didn't make any purchases there, though, since they sell their wine in the United States.
Wednesday, we had a cheese tasting in the morning with one of our professors, who is a cheese-maker from Connecticut. We tried probably a dozen different cheeses, some better than others. There were the softer, fresh cheeses, like fresh mozzarella, that tended to be milder in flavor. Then there were the medium-aged cheeses (aged a few months) like gorgonzola or bleu cheese, which I just can't eat because the texture freaks me out. And then there were the aged cheeses, aged for at least a year and sometimes much longer. These aged cheeses were my favorite, Parmigiano Reggiano fits into this category, but the best was called Pecorino Sardo. Pecorino means that it's made from sheep's milk, which is higher in fat than either cow's or goat's milk, hence making it more delicious. I tried to be open to trying as many cheeses as possible, but some of them I just couldn't stomach, like the softer medium-aged ones... I sort of have a fear of new cheeses lol.
Thursday afternoon, we visited a professional chef's house and learned how to cook a real Italian meal. Italians don't mess around for lunch; a traditional Italian lunch consists of at least three courses, but ours on this day had five. We made three types of crostini for the antipasto, gnocchi as the "first" first course, ravioli as the "second" first course, roast pork and onions as the second course, and tiramisu as the dessert. I feel like I learned so much from the chef and his wife about cooking. I learned more in this one day of cooking lunch than I have in 5 of my other cooking classes. The cooking class has been somewhat of a disappointment. At the chef's house, we had plenty of room for all twelve of us to help prepare lunch. I personally helped prepare the tomato sauce for the gnocchi and the pork roast. In addition to that, we were instructed on how to properly cut vegetables, taught about using herbs for cooking and also about their medicinal properties, and probably some other things I can't think of right now. Aside from that, it was the best tasting meal I've had since I've been here, and that's saying a lot. There are a lot of pictures on Facebook of this lunch.
After lunch, we went to a biodynamic farm nearby. A biodynamic farm is a type of farm that is essentially one big organism. Everything in the farm has a particular function and many of the pieces are interrelated; the result is a farm that is more than just the sum of its parts. They have goats and cows for milk, they use the manure from these animals as fertilizer, which grows their vegetables and fruits, including olives, which are then made into olive oil, which produces byproducts which are then used again as fertilizer, etc, etc. They also don't use any chemical fertilizer or pesticides or anything like that. The cows and goats eat only hay and fresh grass. They also provide some energy to run their farm through sustainable methods, like wind power and solar power. At the end of our tour, we had a tasting of cheeses, raw milk, and homemade grape and apple juices. The raw milk was great, my roommate Matt and I had been missing that since we've been here; it's impossible to find it in the city. All in all, this day with the lunch and the biodynamic farm tour may have been the best day we've had here thus far. Here are a few pictures, but again, check Facebook for more.
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