EyeItalia

The white truffle–tuber magnatum pico–grows in specific areas of Italy, particularly Piedmont, Tuscany and Umbria. While the attention of the food press has always been more focused on Piedmont (indeed there are so called Tuscan cookbooks which list “Piedmontese” truffles in the ingredients), this attention is mainly due to the fact that the volume of trade in Piedmont is greater. The Tuscan or Umbrian white truffle is in fact the same organism that tastes and costs the same.

The white truffle is prized for its intense aroma, which is how it is found by equally prized, highly trained and focused “sniffer” dogs which in turn can be valued at up to $10,000. The truffle itself can command upwards of $3000 per kilogram when small. When large truffles are found their price increases out of proportion with their weight. The current world record for price is $160,000 for a 1.4 kg truffle. The largest truffle ever found (2.5 kg) was given to President Dwight Eisenhower as a present in 1954, an act that has been widely criticized as Ike was probably unable to appreciate it. Larger truffles do taste the same as the smaller ones, although they are primarily bought for show only.

Other parts of the world– including the Sahara, the deserts of the Middle East, China, ex–Yugoslavia and Iran– also produce truffles. Iran is the number one exporter; their truffles, however, are completely different in their aroma. There appears to be a complex Mediterranean (i.e. central Italian) ecological reason why Tuscan/Italian truffles are so unique in their taste. This undoubtedly reflects Mediterranean tree types as the truffle is a symbiont of arboreal roots. Nevertheless with the advent of high quality synthetic fragrances, a roaring trade has taken root in Chinese and Iranian truffles that have been artificially aromatized and are being sold as Italian.
 
One thing about which old and young alike in the truffle trade agree on is that there are far fewer truffles now than previously. The reasons for this are likely extremely complex. Preliminary studies by Dr. Christopher Mathews (a celebrated marine biologist applying fisheries mathematics to a land-based ecosystem) and others suggest some or all of the following factors:
 

• Reduced rainfall and increased runoff due to open field designs without tracing or swayle/hedge systems, leading to less water retention: water is a key factor in truffle growth.
• Pesticide use and less surface area of valley/river tree cover due to expansion of arable land with the advent of machinery.
• Increased truffle extraction owing to a decline in game hunting, owing in turn to a lack of game to hunt. Game hunting is a pasttime that most truffle hunters share, the less game they hunt the more truffles they find. Many people in the Voters area for example have quit game hunting entirely to hunt truffles full time.
• Global warming

Like the samurai of old who used to leave camp before dawn in an effort to be the first to engage the enemy army, Italian truffle hunters start as early as 3 a.m. to beat their competitors onto the truffle grounds. Truffles are found in fertile valley tree systems especially near rivers. Exact locations are a source of extreme secrecy. Truffle hunters without children have been known to take their secrets with them to their death beds. 

Slightly less honorable than bushido warriors, truffle dog poisoning episodes are rife in the Pisa area of Tuscany, with at least 13 dogs having been poisoned in recent years.

The truffle trade has gone global but mysteriously no one is able to replicate the flavor of the Italian white truffle, not even in Croatia or France, Mediterranean countries with very similar eco-systems. While attempts to artificially cultivate the fungus have met with success in other, less prized truffle species, nothing has yet been proved scientifically to work for the white truffle.

Finally a word on the cooking of it. Notwithstanding its fame as status symbol to avid foodies, the Italian white truffle, is after all, a food. Eat it raw or cook it as simply as possible. Even the foodies must agree with this, otherwise let them eat truffles from Oregon (or Iran)!

—Benjamin Mathews, Tuscan resident and truffle hunter