The Truth Behind the Truffle Hype

Aug 1, 2011 by M. Velez

Yes, truffles can be expensive just as the image to your left demonstrates. You often hear food connoisseurs express how wonderful they smell and taste that you must try it for yourself and be amazed. If high prices have anything to do with smell and taste, the truffle would have to be one amazing fungus, plus all good tasting food would be nearly impossible to afford. Fortunately for us, smell and taste has little to do with how expensive these ugly little tubers (or fungi to be exact) are.

A truffle’s value is dictated by the economic formula of supply and demand: High demand + short supply = high price

You don’t have to be a whiz at economics to understand the above concept. The human reaction to high demands for products that are not easily and readily available is to jack up the price. Why? Because the seller knows that there will always be someone willing to pay a higher price for a product that is highly desired and in short supply.

Other than society’s insatiable taste for the rare and unobtainable, another contributing factor to the truffle’s short supply has much to do with the nature of how truffles grow and mature. A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean fungus that lives on the roots of certain trees (e.g Oak, European Filbert or Hazel) in a symbiotic relationship. Truffles cannot be grown the way you would a fruit or vegetable. Suitable host tree seedlings must be inoculated with the fungus to ensure mycorrhization (or fungal colonization).

Truffles take time to grow and mature. In about 5 years, they can be harvested, but the method to harvest them is also painfully slow. Truffles cannot be seen by the human eye, so a dog or sow (a female pig) is needed to sniff them out. Female pigs do not need to be trained to find truffles because the scent of a truffle mimics the sex hormones of a male pig (see Truffles: Why Pigs Can Sniff Them Out). They only need to be put on a leash and walked through a truffle grove. However, a sow will eat the truffle that it finds. Training it to not eat the reward is more difficult than training a dog to sniff it out.

There are two main types of truffles, black and white, and they come in varieties. Over the last ten years, several truffle growing farms have cropped up. The Black Périgord Truffle (aka Black Winter truffle) can be successfully cultivated (see Garland Truffles), while the Italian White Truffle must continue to be harvested from the wild as it cannot be successfully cultivated. The white truffle is harder to obtain, thus the higher price.

John Magazino, owner of Primizie, an importer and distributer of gourmet foods, says that there has been a “decline over the last 15 years in both quantity and quality of white truffles” (see White Truffles: Why They’re Worth 2,000 a Pound).

In my opinion, no fungus is worth $2,000/lb unless it can cure you of some ailment. Fortunately, the Black Périgord Truffle is a little more affordable and prices vary depending on season. For example, I was able to buy two Black Périgord truffles at Wegmans for $4.00 (the price dropped from $1,000/lb to $199/lb) simply because the season for them had ended and the Summer Truffles were coming in. Each truffle ball weighed 0.01 lb and I could have bought more for less than $10.00.

Was it worth it? For the price I paid, yes, but anything much more and I might have felt silly.

On the other hand, I am a self-proclaimed food connoisseur and as a food expert, it is my job to report back to you about the food extraordinaire. (Disclaimer: so long as it’s legal and not disgusting).

The Black Périgord is best enjoyed when cooked briefly in low heat. It has a deep mushroom flavor (note: truffles are not mushrooms) that is earthy and woody and smells kind of like cheese when freshly grated. The smell and flavor of truffles degrades over time. If fresh truffles are not available locally, you can buy them online or save a few bucks and try alternatives such as truffle infused oils (note: they do not contain truffles, just the scent and flavor) or synthetic truffle oil that mimics (to some degree) what truffles smell and taste like.