1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: Lauren Volbeban. Here. The truffles, the meaning the delicious fungi, 3 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: not the delicious chocolate, are one of the most expensive 4 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,799 Speaker 1: ingredients on the planet. They're so sought after that the 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: treffle hunting business is highly competitive, shockingly cutthroat, and sometimes illicit, 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: because truffles are pretty much always foraged, not farmed, and 7 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: it seems that fewer are available every year. So today 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: let's talk truffles. The first things First, the truffles in 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: question here are fungi. Yes, there are creamy chocolate treats 10 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: that go by the same name, but that's because whoever 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,639 Speaker 1: began rolling chocolate ganash into small balls thought that those 12 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: lumpy brown candies looked a little bit like the fung 13 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: gui truffles. The fungi are cousins of mushrooms that grow 14 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: underground instead of above ground. Thus, instead of growing a 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: fruiting body with a wide cap so that they can 16 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: release their spores out into the air, they fold in 17 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:14,559 Speaker 1: on themselves and develop spores inside. They wind up looking 18 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: like a tuber, a sort of potato e. One genus 19 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: of treffles is called tuber. Their flavors can vary depending 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: on these species and its growth conditions, of course, but 21 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: they tend to be funky and earthy and savory. Researchers 22 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: have found at least two hundred aroma compounds in truffles, 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: and at least thirty seven that directly contribute to the 24 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: highly aromatic white truffles characteristic flavors. More about treffle types later, however, 25 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: the one that all truffles seem to have in common 26 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: is dimethyl sulfide, which is an aroma compound with a 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: smell that's been described as funky, earthy and reminiscent of 28 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: rotten cabbage, ripe cheese, and human farts. So there you 29 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: have it. Those aromas are an evolutionary reproduction mechanism. Treffles 30 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: depend on animals like burrowing rodents to eat their fruit 31 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: and poop their spores in a new location in order 32 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: to spread, and since they grow underground, their strong scent 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: draws those animals to them. In the past, treffle hunters 34 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: used pigs to track down underground stashes because pigs love 35 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: treffles as much as we do, but dogs are now 36 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: considered the gold standard for the article. This episode is 37 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: based on How Stuff Works. Spoke on the phone with 38 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: Ken Frank, the executive chef and owner of a Napa, 39 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: California restaurant called latouqu which has hosted an annual fresh 40 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: Truffle dinner since nineteen eighty three. He explained the switch 41 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: from pigs to dogs. Quote. First of all, a dog 42 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: makes a great pet that might weigh thirty to forty pounds. 43 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: A pig weighs hundreds of pounds. Imagine shoving a pig 44 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: in the back of your Fiat and driving through the 45 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: foothills of Piamonte. You also have to fight the pig 46 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: for the truffle because it doesn't want to give it up. Originally, 47 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: pigs were used because they don't training, they nowhere to go. 48 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: But dogs have great noses and you can make it 49 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: into a game. The dog doesn't want to eat the treffle, 50 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: It just wants to play the game. It's far more practical. 51 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: Using pigs nowadays is very unusual. Part of why treffles 52 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: are so expensive is that they're more choosy than other 53 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: mushrooms about where they'll grow. The kinds largely used in 54 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: European cuisines are a symbiotic fungus and will only grow 55 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: in unison with the roots of certain types of trees, 56 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 1: for example pines, beaches, poplars, oaks, and hazels. They steal 57 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: sugar from the tree's roots and in return provide nutrients 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: in the soil that the tree can use. So you 59 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: can't just grow treffles the way that you can grow 60 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: other mushrooms in trays of substrate in big vertical indoor farms. 61 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: You have to grow the trees and introduce the fungus 62 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: and just sort of hope that it all works. European 63 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: treffles have traditionally been foraged in smallish regions of France, Spain, 64 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: Italy and Croatia, but they can be grown elsewhere, like 65 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: Australia and New Zealand, parts of North America, Israel and Morocco, 66 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: and Argentina. In Chile. These days, China is a big 67 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: player in the market too. Apparently, trefles from China are 68 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: less flavorful than some European treffles, but resemble them in 69 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: color and so are sometimes fraudulently sold as European treffles, 70 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: sometimes even with synthetic flavoring added. There are hundreds of 71 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: species of treffles. But the three main ones that you'll 72 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: find in European based cuisines, in descending order of strength, 73 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: of flavor, and of expense, are white trefles, which are 74 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: pale all the way through, black trefles, which are dark 75 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: all the way through, and what's called summer trefles, which 76 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: have a dark skin but lighter interior and are harvested 77 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: in the summer, as opposed to white and black treffles, 78 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: which are harvested in fall to winter. All of these 79 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: are in the genus tuber. There are also desert trefles, 80 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: which prefer arid growing conditions and appear throughout appropriate regions 81 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The word trefles may in 82 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: fact come from the Arabic turfas a term for these 83 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: desert species. White trefles are considered the rarest variety, so 84 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 1: it's no surprise that they cost big bucks. But just 85 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: how big those bucks are might surprise you. We're talking 86 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: three thousand dollars a pound for white treffles from the 87 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: Italian Piedmont. Compare that with nine hundred dollars a pound 88 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: for southwestern France's black trefles. The so called black diamonds. 89 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: A pound is about half a kilo for reference. In 90 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, the world's largest white trefle on record, weighing 91 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: in at four point one six pounds. That's one point 92 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: eighty eight kilos sold at auction for sixty one thousand, 93 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty dollars, and that was considered something 94 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: of a bargain. Treffles from lesser known areas are typically cheaper. 95 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: Chinese treffles run about thirty to fifty dollars a pound, 96 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: and varieties found in the US range from around fifty 97 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: to one hundred dollars. Of course, all of this is wholesale. 98 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: In fancy restaurants that stop fresh treffles, you might pay 99 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: a couple hundred bucks for just a few grams, just 100 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: a couple of shavings. All of this is due to 101 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: a few factors. White trefles, especially are hyper seasonal. They 102 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: tend to only grow during a short window from mid 103 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: September through the end of November, and they're becoming more rare. 104 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: Annual harvests of white treffle declined from about two thousand 105 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: tons to just twenty tons over the span of the 106 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: last hundred years. Climate change is contributing to this. In 107 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: regions of Europe where trefles grow, summers are getting drier 108 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: and tuber species of treffles like it damp. They also 109 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: don't store super well. That special aroma is sometimes gone 110 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: within a week. Some restaurants keep their supply in safes, 111 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 1: as you might suspect from the scarce supply and the 112 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: potential to cash in. Competition in the treffle trade is 113 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: intense and has inspired all kinds of crime. Trefle hunters 114 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: have sabotaged rivals cars by slashing tie and planting spikes 115 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: and dirt roads, or even kidnapping and ransoming rivals dogs. 116 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: In France, the trefle season means increased police roadblocks. In 117 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: twenty ten, a treffle shortage there resulted in a spree 118 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: of truffle crimes. There were raids on farms and armed 119 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: robberies of traders. In twenty twelve, robbers got away with 120 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: sixty thousand dollars worth of product from an Italian warehouse 121 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: owned by the world's largest treffle supplier. Treffle hunters keep 122 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: their hunting ground secret. Passing down the location from generation 123 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: to generation sometimes is a deathbed revelation. At this point, 124 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: you might be wondering what in the world the big 125 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: deal is. I mean, sure, trefles are rare, but is 126 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: there flavor really that special? According to the pros uh yep, 127 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: but Frank said, it's hard to describe the flavor. It's 128 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: not just that it's earthy or pungent, but to me, 129 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: it's also primal. It's more than just the flavor. This 130 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,239 Speaker 1: smell reaches inside you and it's really compelling and really 131 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: grabs you and makes you pay attention, whether you like 132 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: it or not. However, and I hate to break it 133 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: to you, but treffle flavored products that do not contain 134 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: actual fresh bits of fungus are made with imitation flavorings 135 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: that are produced in labs. That means that packaged products 136 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: like your favorite treuffle oil, salt or honey has never 137 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: seen the real thing. We have those products thanks to 138 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: Italian chemists who isolated one of the treffles operative flavor 139 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 1: compounds in the nineteen seventies, and you can find canned 140 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: or frozen truffles. But unfortunately for those of us without 141 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 1: the funds, aficionados insist that fresh is more subtle and 142 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: world's better than the imitations. Interestingly, when scientists mapped the 143 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: black treffle's genome, they found that one of the proteins 144 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: that contributes to the fungi's smell is androstenol, a steroidal 145 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: pheromone found in human men's under arm sweat. It's also 146 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: found in the saliva of male pigs, so researchers got 147 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: to wondering whether that's why female pigs were so good 148 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: at rooting treffles out. But tests showed that female pigs 149 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: aren't just looking for that pheromone. In a study using 150 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: real trefles, the synthetic scent, and just the pheromone, the 151 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: researchers found that pigs will go for the real or 152 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: synthetic treffle smells, but they'll ignore the pheromone alone. Maybe 153 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: like us, pigs just dig treffles. But whether you can 154 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: enjoy them fresh, you love your lab created truffle oil, 155 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: or you can't stand the stuff in any case, If 156 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: you want to learn more about treffle crime, there's a 157 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: book that was published in twenty nineteen by one Ryan 158 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: Jacobs that's got you covered. It's called The Truffle Underground, 159 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: A Tale of Mystery, mayhem, and manipulation in the shadowy 160 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: market of the world's most expensive fungus. Today's episode is 161 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: based on the article Treffles, the rarest and most exten 162 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: and so of fungi in the World on how stuffworks 163 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: dot Com, written by Michelle Constantinovski. Brain Stuff is production 164 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is 165 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, 166 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 167 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:16,079 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.