Why are truffles so expensive? They are very rare and very difficult to grow.
What is a truffle? The truffle is the fruit part of a fungi, and it is similar to the top part of a mushroom. A truffle is a type of fungus that grows around the roots of some trees. They are edible and the tree they are attached to can affect their flavor. These fungi and the trees have a symbiotic relationship because the fungi help the tree to absorb water and nutrients through its roots, while the tree gives the fungi the sugar it needs for energy and to grow. This is why the flavor of the tree can be imparted into the fungi. The truffle fungi have adapted to living with the trees so much that they can no longer live without them. They have lost the enzymes they used to have to break down plant cell walls and produce their own carbohydrates. Truffles are not mushrooms. Mushrooms like dark, cool places, but they grow above ground. Truffles only grow underground, connected to the roots of their tree, about 20 cm under the ground. They are usually round and are about the size of a potato. They can be black, brown, or white, depending on where they have come from.
The word truffle has come into English via French, and Latin. It began as tuber in Latin, which meant edible root. We still use the word tuber to refer to edible roots. It became tufera in Late Latin, before becoming trufle in French and then truffle in English. The first reference to truffle in English comes from the 1590s.
There are 180 different types of truffles, but only 13 of them are used commercially. They all have a different color, size, shape, and texture. Some of them are very valuable. The black truffle is one of the most famous and it can go for several thousand dollars a kilogram. Truffles have a very earthy and woody flavor. They taste similar to mushrooms, although their flavor is much more intense and is said to be very complex and rich in umami. They have a very strong aroma that complements their flavor. They give off a lot of chemicals that create their aroma, and they have evolved this technique to spread their spores. Fungi that live above ground can release their spores in the air, or they can attract insects to carry them away. Truffle fungi live under the ground, and they can’t do that, so they have evolved these volatile chemicals that they give off are strong enough to work their way up through the soil and be detected by animals. These animals eat the truffle, which is the fruit part of the fungi, and carry its spores with them in their guts, releasing them later. The smell and the taste that animals love is also the reason we love truffles.
Truffle hunters use trained dogs or pigs to find and dig up these truffles for them. Our noses have 6 million olfactory receptors to detect smells, while some dogs have 300 million or more. It is much easier for these dogs to smell the truffles under the ground and lead the hunter to them. Pigs have also been famously used. They are very attracted to the smell of the truffles and are very good at finding them. The problem is that they love the taste as well, so it is very difficult to train a pig just to find a truffle and not eat it. Once the truffle has been dug up, it starts to decay straight away, so it needs to be shipped and used as soon as possible. Although, the flavor and the aroma profile change, the longer the truffle is out of the ground.
Truffles are so expensive because they are very rare and difficult to come by. And also, because people are willing to pay the price for them. Just like anything, something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If nobody wanted to pay thousands of dollars for a kilogram of fungus, then there wouldn’t be a market for it. As it happens, they do. This huge appetite for truffles has led to production in countries that don’t have native truffles. The truffle comes from European countries, such as Italy, Spain, and France. Recently, the United States and China, along with many other countries, have started to cultivate them. However, it is almost impossible to mass produce them because they need a perfect set of conditions to start growing. They need the right temperature, the right season, the right amount of rainfall, the right soil acidity, the right humidity, the right minerals, the right tree, and many other conditions. Getting these conditions correct is very difficult and even then, the truffle will take a long time to grow. They will probably always be expensive. And this is what I learned today.
Image By moi-même – Self-photographed, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1475134
Sources
https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/truffle-price
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle
https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/kitchen/what-is-a-truffle
https://www.truff.com/articles/what-are-truffles
https://www.etymonline.com/word/truffle
https://www.prestigeonline.com/th/lifestyle/wine-plus-dine/worlds-most-expensive-truffles-ever/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-truffles-took-root-around-the-world-180981011/
https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-truffle
https://www.thespruce.com/all-about-growing-truffles-6503725