Zigante Tartufi: the record-breaking truffle-maker from Croatia

The truffle specialist presented a diverse selection of truffle products to visitors at SIAL Paris 2022.

The Istrian peninsula is renowned for a number of reasons, including the clean sea, green surroundings, as well as being a natural habitat for truffles. Zigante Tartufi produces a diverse range of truffles, which originate from the fertile soils of the River Mira valley. Their flavour is most intense either at night, or in the early hours of the morning. This is precisely when Zigante Tartufi harvest its truffles from the protected Motovun Forest. 

Company founder Giancarlo Zigante made a name for himself after discovering a white truffle that weighed 1,310 grams. This was a first and was registered by the Guinness World Records as the heaviest white truffle in the world at the time. 

Beyond that, the company boasts a broad selection of truffle products. Among these, are the certified-vegan chopped black truffles and chopped lyophilised white truffles, as well as prepared meals like tartufata, a mixture of mushrooms, olives and black and white truffles. Truffles and boletus, another prepared meal, features white and black truffles along with boletus mushroom. 

Furthermore, Zigante Tartufi has a condiment range of products like butter with white truffles and pear jam with black truffle. Other standouts include the acacia honey made with white truffles and the gluten-free light mayonnaise or ketchup with truffles.

Truffles grow underground in unpolluted natural and clean environments. Zigante Tartufi in Istria is home to many types of truffles, such as the Istrian white truffle, as well as the Piedmont white truffle, along with black truffles like tuber aestivum (the summer truffle) 

These are brought to the Zigante Tartufi immediately after harvesting, where they are processed at what the companies calls “one of the most modern […] of this type in Europe.” The truffles are processed in a controlled environment, using natural preservatives like salt and olive oil. 

“Advanced technology and […] experience enable us to offer […] absolutely superior truffle-based products all year round,” says the company. “By preserving all the qualities of chosen fresh truffles, these products represent a pure essence of the king of gourmet cuisine, in attractive and practical packaging under our logo.”