5 surprising facts about truffles

Of course, truffles leave some people completely cold, just as there are cilantro haters and people who avoid passion fruit (me). But many people truly consider truffles a delicious delicacy, and they also come with some great stories and facts…

Because the age-old hunt for this delicacy is quite a tradition, even though highly productive truffle farms now exist all over the world. But true diehards value everything that is old-school truffle. And did you already know the following about this unassuming but exceptionally tasty fungus?

The smell of schizophrenia (or just clever nature)

Those poor truffles have the wonderful property of having to live underground (because otherwise they cannot grow), while also desperately wanting to be found! Hence that highly specific smell. Wild boars get very excited by it, and when they dig up the truffles to gobble them down, the spores of the fungus (the truffle) are spread effectively. Those spores then give rise to new truffles (underground), and so on and so forth, ensuring the truffle’s survival.

Then use a dog

Buttt: pigs also find truffles a little too delicious. Naturally, they eat them all as soon as they find them, and that is how the cat-and-mouse game with humans began. Humans wanted truffles too, but to put over pasta. So people came up with the idea of using dogs for the hunt. They do love tracking, but not truffles (as food). They are also easier to train than pigs—or so they say. But how many people have really tried their best to train a pig properly, so that it would hand the prize back as well?

Penetrating little thing

Not only is the aforementioned pasta delicious with truffle on top, a delicious fluffy omelet is also considered one of the best vehicles for freshly shaved or grated truffle. Or upgrade your cheese fondue with truffle. And did you know that you can infuse fresh eggs in their shells, as well as a piece of cheese, with truffle aroma by storing them together in a hermetically sealed container? The truffle absorbs nothing from the smell of the cheese or eggs, but the reverse is very much true.

Divine bolt of lightning

According to the ancient Greeks, truffles were a ‘gift’ from Zeus, after he once fired a bolt of lightning that landed near an oak tree. The first truffles were said to have grown at the impact site. And since Zeus was known for being rather lustful, the gnarled underground mushroom immediately acquired associations with being an aphrodisiac.

Not just a puppy diploma

The most fun fact, in our opinion, is that there is a special Truffle Dog ‘University’, located in Roddi, Italy, near Alba. Alba also hosts the annual International White Truffle Fair, and the Langhe, the truffle-rich area in the Piedmont region, is the perfect training ground for Italian pooches that enjoy a little detective work. You cannot simply send your Rottweiler into the woods with a pat on the behind, so at the Università dei Cani da Tartufo they teach suitable dogs the (very) fine points of this extremely delicate hunt.

Read also:

• I’m a truffle hater, and I went to a 4-course truffle dinner
• The Netherlands, land of truffles? Wild truffles have been found here for the first time!
• Make your own truffle kruidnoten