Truffle hunting begins in Meteora in March

The annual truffle hunts in central Greece will kick off on March 1, when the truffle hunting season opens, the Natural History Museum of Meteora and the local Mushroom Museum who are organizing the event announced Wednesday.

The season begins in March and ends in October and each "hunt" lasts approximately three hours.

Apart from organized groups, the hunting expeditions are also open to individual participants.

The groups are led by a truffle hunter, who will search in the woods for the underground mushrooms with the help of his truffle dogs. Then, a chef who tags along with the group will use them to make truffle pasta.

Visitors can also participate in a mushroom tasting event served with local wine.

Museum tours are available for those who want to learn more about local mushrooms, while they can choose among 70 mushroom products on offer at the museum shop.

"After a very successful year with many visitors from all over the world taking part in the truffle hunting, we are expecting high participation in 2020's hunts," museum director, Nikos Pallas, told the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

"New travel agents have been addded to the list of interested parties, which points to a very positive trend."