Truffles are quite a rare delicacy with strange origins, but are they similar to mushrooms?
Truffles are very similar to mushrooms, being as they are a fruiting body of a string of fungi. They grow just under or on the earth, as do mushrooms, and are known to have a similar taste to various above-ground mushrooms.
Read on to learn more about truffles, their similarity to mushrooms, and why they’re so expensive.
It’s No Truffling Thing
There’s often a little confusion when it comes to the term ‘truffle’. The majority of people will likely be referring to hard chocolate with a soft center.
However, there’s a much rarer and altogether more expensive kind of truffle. It’s not concocted in a kitchen but instead grows just under the surface of the earth, in soil.
These truffles are very similar to mushrooms in how they grow, and how they taste. Although at first glance, you wouldn’t necessarily identify them as a mushroom.
They’re remarkably unique in appearance, and often take on the appearance of a nugget of gold, or coal. They’re misshapen, and unfortunately are quite ugly; they don’t even look edible.
So, why are truffles so expensive, and sought after?
Truffles come in four main varieties: black, burgundy, winter black, and white. This is where the major differences occur, and it’s the type that makes the price deviate quite wildly.
For example, the white truffle is the most valuable and sought after – and rarest. Reportedly, a small selection of fine white truffles sold in 2017 for around eighty-five thousand dollars.
And the selection itself weighed just two pounds.
The vast majority of truffles are taken from the wild, with a few variants being cultivated. However, it was revealed in 2015 that nobody had ever been able to cultivate the white truffle.
Of course, if the truffles were successfully farmed, the value would undoubtedly dive downwards. It’s the rarity that makes them as valuable as they are.
Expensive Eating
To enjoy truffle at its best, it should apparently be consumed as soon as physically possible after picking. There’s reportedly around a thirty-six hour window before it coming out of the ground, to it being eaten.
This is due to the flavor of the truffle decreasing rapidly once picked. While they can be preserved via freezing, or by submerging in oil, it isn’t advised.
It’s a versatile food and can be used with pasta, chicken, fish, or soups. There are multiple ways it can be included, too: grating over food, slicing, or mixing it with butter.
In 2016, an article explored the best places in the United States to eat truffles in a restaurant setting.
There were examples from all different cultures: Italian pasta, Amish chicken, and Japanese sushi. Some of the offerings available were considerably expensive, however.
In Chicago, you could obtain a pasta with shaving of white truffle. However, the truffle in question would cost you around $40 for four grams.
Another restaurant in California was charging around $175 for a ‘truffle supplement’ on dishes. It varied massively depending where you were, and what kind of truffle it was.
However, these are just a few shavings. They’re nothing like the biggest examples of truffles, like the four pound one that sold in Australia for around $2500.
The Rare Club
When it comes to foods, truffles aren’t the rarest delicacy. There are particular meats, mushrooms and cheeses that are almost never seen.
One of the best examples is fugu, an almost never-consumed and deadly pufferfish. There are chefs that train for years just to prepare the one fish.
If not prepared properly, it will kill a human, owing to the lethal toxin pulsing through its body. These chefs need to be fully licensed, and extremely precise.
Also from Japan is an extremely rare mushroom, called the Matsutake. Reportedly, this mushroom cannot be cultivated at all, and will never grow in the same place twice.
It’s also worth around $500 per pound.
The final member of the club is also the most valuable – saffron. It’s officially recognised as the most expensive spice on the entire planet.
It’s obtained from one particular flower, and comes from thread-like strands that grow on it. However, it’s a tiny strand, and as a result it will take over fifty-thousand flowers to gather a single pound of saffron.
Dollar to dollar, saffron is more valuable than gold, being valued at around one hundred dollars per gram.