Unearthing the Truffle

In ancient Greece, the historian Plutarch claimed that they hailed from lightning striking the Earth. A century ago, French writer Alexandre Dumas said, "They can, on certain occasions, make women more tender and men more lovable."

The famous French gastronome Brillat-Savarin called them "diamonds of the kitchen." At an annual auction in Alba, Italy, on Nov. 12, a Hong Kong property tycoon paid $160,406 for a mere 3-pound specimen.

The source of this mania? The truffle, an underground fungus with an ethereal taste.

Truffles are an unusual member of the mushroom family, growing completely underground in a symbiotic relationship with tree roots. They typically range in size from about a marble to a medium potato -- in colors including white, brown, gray and black -- and have been consumed by humans for thousands of years.

But most significantly, truffles taste and smell like nothing else: a slowly unfolding combination of deep, earthy richness with a pervasive, musky fragrance.

It's impossible to forget your initial encounter. When I first picked up a white truffle, I was taken aback at how a knotty, diminutive tuber could emit such a heady perfume, redolent of absolutely nothing I'd ever encountered before. ...