In all cases, we will be able to taste and smell something entrancing.
For "meditation" or digestives: Truffle liqueurs and bitters
Liqueur, grappa, amaro or beer: they can all be enriched with truffles. Both black and white. If it is true that this tuber improves first courses and dishes, today we are going to find out how it does the same with alcoholic beverages.
Let’s start with the Vallenera liqueur, produced with the Norcia black truffle, which is obtained by putting together the aromatic herbs plus the prized mushroom that grows precisely in the Umbrianbutcher’s area and in the valley of the Nera river. The truffle note isnever intrusive, the alcohol levelis 28%. This liqueur is characterised by its freshness.
Following an ancient recipe, we can obtain truffle amaro. The taste is pleasant to the nose and sweet to the palate; itis best appreciated if served at room temperature, as a digestive or after coffee. But it can also be served cold with a sweet or dessert in the mid-afternoon. Even beer can be enhanced with truffles. You need to mix water, barley malt, hops, yeast, and aroma. It is ideal for aperitifs and is available in 33 cl formats.
And again: you can try a Sambuca al tartufo, in 20 and 70 format, with alcohol, sugar, sambuca distillate, black summer truffle infusion 0.5%, flavourings, black summer truffle flakes, with a volume of 42 percent. Black truffle grappa is obtained by adding 0.5% summer black truffle infusion, flavourings, black truffle flakes to the grappa.
White or black truffle, the alcoholic profits
Grappa with white truffle deserves a separate discussion, which is obtained thanks to the infusion of the latter in the distillate of the best pomace. Grappa should be served between 8 and 10 degrees, as a digestif or perhaps served together with dark chocolate, with savoury and fatty cured meats.
In the Upper Calore River Valley, in the province of Avellino, a typical product is the black truffleliqueur, whose recipe dates back to about 30 years ago, invented in Bagnolo Irpino. In dialect it iscalled ‘Liquore ‘r tartufu’, it is prepared by letting the black truffles macerate in pure alcohol at 90 degrees for a month, then adding a sugar solution. It is advisable to drink it in moderation and on full stomachs, since it has a volume of 38-40 degrees. It’s not difficult to prepare. The truffle should be brushed under a light spray of water, sliced and placed in a glass jar filled with alcohol for 40 days.
At this point, prepare the syrup by putting water and sugar on the stove, let it cool and add it to the filtered alcohol. The mixture is closed and sealed in bottles and left to rest for at least three months, then it is filtered again and placed in clean bottles, ready to be tasted.
