5 remarkable facts about truffle

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: all the facts about truffle.

Of course, truffle leaves some people completely cold, just like there are coriander haters and passion fruit avoiders (me). But many people really consider truffle a delicacy to savor, and it is also surrounded by fun stories and trivia…

Because the ancient hunt for this substance is quite a tradition, even though there are now very productive truffle farms worldwide. But the real diehards value everything that is old school truffle. And did you already know the following about this unassuming but particularly tasty fungus?

The smell of schizophrenia (or just that clever nature)
Those poor truffles have the wonderful property that they must live underground (because otherwise they don't grow), but they also really want to be found! Hence that super specific smell. Wild boars get very excited about it, and when they dig up the truffles to munch on them, the spores of the fungus (the truffle) are well spread. And those spores form the basis for new truffles (underground), and so on and so forth, ensuring the truffle's survival.

Then a dog
But: those pigs find the truffles a bit too tasty. They naturally gobble them all up as soon as they find them, and thus began the cat-and-mouse game with humans, because they also wanted truffles, but for over the pasta. So humans came up with the idea to use dogs for the hunt. Because they do love to sniff around, but not to eat truffles. And they are also easier to train than pigs, or so it is said. But how many people have really made an effort to train a pig well enough to give the loot back?

Penetrating little guy
Not only the mentioned pasta is delicious with truffle on top, a perfectly fried egg or a delicious fluffy omelet is also considered one of the best vehicles for freshly shaved or grated truffle. Also irresistible: give your cheese fondue an upgrade with truffle. Also bizarrely tasty: truffle fries! Okay, it's a bit of cheating, because for this you use top-notch truffle oil, but still… And did you know that you can infuse fresh eggs in their shells, but also a piece of cheese with the aroma of truffle by keeping them together in an airtight container? The truffle takes nothing from the smell of the cheese or the eggs, but the other way around much more.

Divine lightning bolt
According to the ancient Greeks, truffles were a ‘gift’ from Zeus, after he once fired a lightning bolt that landed near an oak tree. The first truffles are said to have grown at the impact site. And since Zeus was known to be quite lustful, the gnarled underground mushroom was immediately associated with aphrodisiac properties.

Not just any puppy diploma
The most fun fact we find is that there is a special Truffle Dog ‘University’ located in Roddi, Italy, near Alba. The annual International White Truffle Fair is also held in Alba, and the Langhe, the truffle-rich area in the Piemonte region, is the perfect school for Italian pups who enjoy a little treasure hunt. And of course, you can't just send your Rottweiler into the woods with a slap on the butt, so at the Università dei Cani da Tartufo, they teach suitable dogs the (very) fine details of this extremely delicate hunt.