Guide Note

Truffles are the subterranean fruiting bodies of a number of fungi of the genus, Tuber. Several species, such as the French black truffle (T. melanosporum) and the Italian white truffle (T. magnatum) are considered extreme delicacies, and are correspondingly scarce and expensive.

Many have attempted to describe the taste of truffles without success, but they somewhat resemble ripe Gorgonzola cheese drizzled in soy sauce and mixed with a whiff of burning rubber.

Truffles seem to have evolved, like fruit, as a food-offering to animals, who then spread seeds in places favorable to growth. The prized edible truffles of France and Italy are highly attractive to animals including pigs, who smell them beneath the ground. Trained pigs are traditionally used in harvesting them, although dogs have become more common in recent years.

Truffles are so expensive (with prices up to thousands of dollars per pound) that they have no genuine use as a food, and are instead generally used like a spice, in dishes in which small quantities of truffle can be made to go a long way. They are most often found in the form of flecks or shavings, and as the flavoring ingredient in truffle oil -- a substance so common in ostentatiously expensive restaurants that it earned the nickname 'Michelin ketchup,' in reference not to its subtle burned-tire flavor but to the haute cuisine bible, the Michelin Guide.

Fast Facts

1. Common truffles: black, white, summer, Chinese
2. Often used in: Risotto, infused olive oil, egg dishes, garnish