Truffles produce a chemical that closely resembles a sex pheromone found in a boar’s saliva. Rutting sows are turned on by the smell and they root in the ground to get at this sexy subterranean tuber.
Men also secrete this chemical in their underarm sweat.
Pigs, goats and dogs and even flies are used to find truffles ripe for harvest. Pigs tend to want to eat the truffles and are difficult to control, so the trend is to use sniffer dogs.
The Perigord truffle is often described as a black diamond, or the Über Tuber.
The Spanish call truffles ‘earth testicles’ (criadillas de tierra)
In Provence, Tuber melanosporum (the black or Perigord truffle) is called "rabasse", or "Rabasse de Provence."
Truffles can cost between 600 Euros and 2 500 Euros on the European market
In 1892, about 1 000 tons of truffles were harvested in the French wilds. Today the total yield is less than 100 tons.
Originally found in the wild only in central and southern France, the Perigord black truffle is now being farmed successfully in plantations in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Chile and North America. In due course, South Africa will be on the list too. The Italian white truffle, Tuber magnatum, is still only found in the wilds of Italy and has not been cultivated successfuly.
A professional truffle hunter in Italy is called a trifolau.
In the wild, truffle spores are spread by small animals such as rodents who dig around the trees and eat the tubers.
One truffle in a room will quickly dominate all other aromas.
Pearls of wisdom
“Presently, we were aware of an odour gradually coming towards us, something musky, fiery, savoury, mysterious, -- a hot drowsy smell, that lulls the senses, and yet enflames them, -- the truffles were coming.”
William Thackeray, English novelist (1811-1863).
“Erotic, earthy, astonishingly sexy, exquisite, smouldering, penetrating, intense, heavenly compound of hashish, essence of opium – it can’t all be in the mind. Or can it?”
Elisabeth Luard, English food writer (2006).
“A dark shape appears. And there it is, a fine black truffle. ‘About fifty grams’, says Auguste, lifting it gently and examining it in his hand. ‘Not large, but it has a good colour and scent.’ He cups his hand and lifts it to my face.
‘There. Take a deep breath. What do you think?’
I breathe deeply. The fragrance almost overpowers me, filling my nostrils and throat with a scent so exciting, so overwhelming, so astonishingly familiar that my head swims and I have to sit down on a tree-stump. Auguste watches me. His smile is sly, knowing. ‘Ah. I see you recognise it.’ And I, a mother of four, twenty years’ married, blush like a girl.”
Elisabeth Luard (2006).
"The most learned men have been questioned as to the nature of this tuber, and after two thousand years of argument and discussion their answer is the same as it was on the first day: we do not know. The truffles themselves have been interrogated, and have answered simply: eat us and praise the Lord."
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)
"Since, during storms, flames leap from the humid vapors and dark clouds emit deafening noises, is it surprising the lightning, when it strikes the ground, gives rise to truffles, which do not resemble plants?"
Plutarch, Greek historian (AD 46-127)
"They can, on certain occasions, make women more tender and men more lovable."
Referring to truffles: Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)
"You pay its weight in gold for it, then in most cases you put it to some paltry use. You smear it with foie gras, you bury it in poultry overloaded with fat, you chop it up and drown it in brown sauce, you mix it with vegetables covered in mayonnaise.....To hell with thin slices, strips, trimmings, and peelings of truffles! Is it not possible to like them for themselves?."
Colette, French novelist (1873-1954).
"There are two types of people who eat truffles: those who think truffles are good because they are dear and those who know they are dear because they are good."
J.L. Vaudoyer
"Whosoever says truffle, utters a grand word, which awakens erotic and gastronomic ideas...."
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French gastronome (1755-1826).
“Truffles - anyone who does not declare himself ready to leave Paradise or Hell for such a treat is not worthy to be born again.”
Maurice Goudeket (1955).
“Ye, the first parents of the human race, whose gourmandise is mentioned in history, you who ruined yourself for an apple, what would you not have done for a truffled turkey? But in Paradise there were neither cooks nor confectioners."
Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savarin
Recommended books:
The Truffle Book, by Gareth Renowden, for an easily accessible introduction to the subject.
Truffles, by Elisabeth Luard. Written in 2006, a beautifully written history of the truffle for the general reader, but contains enough of interest for the serious reader.
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