Truffle experience at the Truffle Museum of Navarra.

Experience around the truffle of Navarra, the “Trufaexperiencia”.

The “Trufaexperiencia”, the truffle experience of the Truffle Museum of Navarra, offers us to learn the secrets of the truffle while enjoying this stunning natural setting. A complete, fun and entertaining experience that takes place at the foot of the Sierra de Lokiz. This activity has been created by our host, Chencho Zugasti, director of the Truffle Museum of Navarra, to show the incredible world of truffle growing. The objective of this activity is for visitors to enjoy a beautiful experience while learning all about the great black truffle. Fun above all else. Designed for all audiences, the “Trufaexperiencia” attracts hundreds of people to Tierra Estella during the winter period, when the truffle fields begin to produce their precious black gold. If you want to know the secrets of the truffle gatherers, if you want to look for truffles in Navarra, we recommend you to reserve a place in the next “Trufaexperiencia”. We are sure you will love it. In our case, thanks to this experience, we have been lucky enough to learn a lot about the different aspects of truffle growing. A really surprising world. The experience that we recommend today is divided into 3 sections: guided visit to the Truffle Museum of Navarra, truffle hunting with trained dogs and tasting a truffle appetizer. It doesn’t sound bad, does it? We loved it! Very interesting. Highly recommended.

This experience proposes us to become truffle hunters for a day. A job that takes us to walk among the trees of the Sierra de Lokiz in the company of our doggy friends. Undoubtedly, a great adventure.

Black truffle from Navarra.

What is the black truffle? The black truffle is a subway fungus known scientifically as Tuber melanosporum. It is a natural product with a characteristic aroma and flavor, which finds in Navarra a perfect climate in which to reproduce. This is why the first and only museum in the peninsula dedicated to this fungus is located in Metauten, Tierra Estella, Navarra. We must point out that, although the most striking and appreciated truffle is the black truffle, the winter truffle, there are other types of truffle. In this sense, we must differentiate between the winter truffle, the black truffle, Tuber melanosporum and the summer truffle, Tuber Aestivum . In the case of Trufaexperiencias, the main protagonist is the first one, the black truffle. This is the reason why this experience can only be carried out in the winter months. In Egyptian and Greek culture, the truffle was considered a delicacy with aphrodisiac characteristics, an aspect that placed the truffle as one of the greatest gastronomic treasures of that time. Unfortunately, during the Middle Ages, the truffle was considered an ambassador of the devil, so it was no longer consumed. Centuries later, in the 18th century, the cooks of the royal houses and the high alchemists recovered this culinary delicacy to offer it to their guests as one of the best accompaniments for the most select dishes of the moment. Today, the truffle continues to be a delicacy in the gastronomic cultures of half the world.

Trufaexperience.

The “Trufaexperiencia” is one of the most surprising and interesting experiences proposed by Tierra Estella (Lizarraldea in Basque). An activity that, with the help of the Truffle Museum, takes us to enjoy a beautiful experience in nature. The “Truffle Experience” begins and ends at the Truffle Museum, Boilurraren Museoa in Basque. Next to the Ganuza road. A space that has a large parking lot where we can leave our vehicles completely free of charge. It is here, where the guided visit is realized and the projection of an audio-visual. A very complete presentation to enter the world of truffle growing. It is time to soak up the history and characteristics of this highly prized fungus. Once the truffle theory is known, it is time to put it into practice, it is time to look for truffles in the field. The harvesting of the black truffle of Navarra begins. To do this we will go to the foot of the Sierra de Lokiz, a beautiful geographical feature located in the center west of Navarra, 2 minutes drive from the truffle museum. To be able to carry out this task we will have a very special and essential help, the help of our doggy friends. Without them it would be practically impossible to find truffles. After the truffle “hunt”, we return to the museum to taste a truffle appetizer. It is time to taste the aroma and flavor of this delicacy. If you like it, remember that you can buy truffled products and fresh truffles in the museum store.

Searching for truffles with a dog.

Traditionally, throughout history, pigs and wild boars have been used to search for truffles, but because they ate part of the truffles found, other animals were tried. Currently, this subway fungus is “hunted” with the help of trained dogs. An attractive aspect. And very much so. Searching for truffles with a dog in Navarra is a surprising, fun and informative experience. Especially for the youngest members of the family. Dogs are the main protagonists in the “hunting” of truffles. Thanks to their training and their sense of smell, these dogs are able to recognize truffles that are more than 20 centimeters underground. In this aspect, we must make special emphasis on the collaboration that Chencho carries out with the local kennels, with the Animal Shelters. In addition to organizing events to raise money for these organizations, many of the dogs that accompany him on a daily basis are adopted. Great work.

Truffle Museum of Navarra.

The Truffle Museum of Navarra is the first and only museum dedicated to the truffle in the whole peninsula. An interpretation center, located in Metauten, about 50 kilometers from Pamplona Iruña, shows us the secrets of the truffle through objects, information panels and audiovisuals. Undoubtedly one of the best places to learn everything about the truffle. By the way, remember that if you want to enjoy truffle experiences you should visit the museum in winter.

Where to look for truffles in Navarra.

Produced underground, in Navarra, this fungus offers us the possibility of appreciating its appearance, flavor and aroma by harvesting and tasting it. Historically speaking, the truffle has been a natural resource of the Sierra de Lokiz, a limestone environment with ideal conditions for truffle production. Although this subway fungus can be found in the wild throughout this mountain range, today, most of the truffle we consume comes from truffle farms, cultivated fields where trees have been planted with mycorrhizal roots so that the fungus and the tree live in symbiosis. This is how we found several plots with truffles just 2 minutes drive from the truffle museum. A real luxury if we take into account that the black truffle is one of the most appreciated products worldwide.

Truffle hunting with the family.

The Trufaexperiencia is an activity for all audiences, for all ages. However, if we must highlight a tourist segment that may be of special interest, we are betting on families. And the fact is that the little ones of the house, the children, have a great time during the whole experience. For them, “hunting” truffles is similar to looking for treasure in the middle of the forest. An experience that encourages them to learn while having fun. A perfect family plan to enjoy this rural area of Navarra.

Buy truffle in Navarra.

After the Trufaexperiencia, we have the opportunity to buy truffles and other derivatives of this delicacy in the museum store. A small gastronomic corner that contains high quality local products. In addition to the usual truffle-based products such as oil or pasta, we also find typical products from Navarre such as preserves, liqueurs and wines. Remember that both during the winter and summer truffle season, the museum has fresh truffles for sale. We strongly recommend that you value the possibility of buying truffles, as this is one of the few places where truffles are sold directly. A good opportunity to take home a piece of this black diamond that is so much talked about. A great souvenir of our visit to this magical corner of Navarra. By the way, although the price per kilogram of this mushroom is quite high, you should know that only a small portion, a few grams, is needed to prepare most recipes. So the purchase of this product is much more affordable than we usually think.

Video of the Trufaexperiencia.

As usual, we wanted to accompany the photos and words of this report with a short video hosted on our YouTube account. We hope that this short audiovisual will help you to get a more realistic idea of the truffle experience offered by the Truffle Museum of Navarra. Remember that you can subscribe to our YouTube channel to enjoy other experiences and tourist destinations as incredible as the one we show you today.

The Truffle Experience offered by the Truffle Museum of Navarra is an activity suitable for all types of tourist profiles, from couples and families to companies and groups of friends. An experience that we have been lucky enough to live in first person and that we want to share with all of you. We hope you like it. As you know, your opinion is very important to us, we encourage you to use the comment system that you will find below these lines to send us your doubts and suggestions. Ondo pasa!