Federico Balestra, standing in his recently expanded West Haven manufacturing facility, was surrounded by boxes full of black winter truffles — a delicate fungus that grows at the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. “This truffle arrived last night, shipped yesterday morning from Italy,” said Balestra, the third-generation owner and CEO of his truffle company, Sabatino. “The order will go out to UPS and FedEx by this afternoon. It will be to the customer tomorrow.”
Sold and shipped whole like this, truffles are used by upscale restaurants to garnish and flavor exclusive dishes. This small, climate-controlled room contains a lot of value — just one ounce of this truffle sells for $95; a handful could yield $1,000 or more.
