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06
Most expensive truffle
Posted under FoodMost expensive white truffle.
$330,000
One of the biggest truffles found in decades has fetched $330,000 (£165,000) at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, London and Florence.
A Macau casino owner, Stanley Ho, made the record-breaking bid for the white truffle, which weighed 1.5kg (3.3lb).
Luciano Savini and his son found the highly-prized fungus after it was dug up by his truffle dog near Pisa, northern Italy, last week.
He said he was overwhelmed by the high price paid for his discovery.
He said: “I thought we were going to beat the record, but not to really get to this amount.
“The biggest truffle of the century and the most expensive truffle of the century. There are no more words to say – it is all very beautiful.”
Mr Ho outbid British artist Damien Hirst and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to the prize, according to the South China Morning Post.
All proceeds from the auction were donated to charities.
Wild truffles are harvested all over the world, from the western United States to China, but France and Italy, where they grow in open meadows and dense forests, respectively, are the best-known sources. These highly coveted fungi germinate 10 to 35 inches underground on the roots of any of a dozen varieties of trees. When uncovered, they look like balls of soil and range in size from a pea to a potato.
The global market for this sought-after specialty food is more than $2 billion, Lima estimates. Global gourmands, especially those in New York City, the largest consumer of truffles after Italy, pay through the nose for the delicacies thanks to their earthy, rich, mushroomy essence.
Each of the four commercially available truffles has a distinct growing season and is only available fresh at that time. White truffles (which have never been successfully domesticated) are in season between late September and December. Black winter truffles are available from November through February. Black summer truffles, the most bountiful kind, are in season between June and October. Bianchetti, or Tuscan truffles, are in season from January through April.
To cook a white truffle is to commit a culinary crime: Heat spoils the pungent taste. White truffles are generally shaved thinly over the top of a simple pasta dish to preserve their intoxicating scent. Black truffles (with a subtler smell and a texture that lends itself to cooking) and black summer truffles (known for their nutty flavor) can be shaved and eaten raw or cooked. Tuscan truffles are almost always cooked because heat doesn’t diminish their pronounced flavor.
