Truffles

Nearly everyone is fascinated by truffles, both how they are hunted and what they really are. Some say they are a mushroom, others say a fungus but not a mushroom, and still others describe them as most closely related to yeast, which is both a plant and an animal. In any case, truffles grow underground, attached to roots of trees, usually oaks. Truffle hunters rely on pigs or dogs to detect the truffle’s pungent aroma. Hunters without pigs or dogs look for unhealthy trees, worn down by the truffle parasite, and then search the ground around them for flies. Flies it seems are drawn to the same odor as pigs and dogs.