
Just a couple of shavings of the French truffle can cost hundreds of dollars in a restaurant in Paris. In Italy the same amount of shavings from their truffle in an Italian restaurant can cost 6 hundred dollars. Why? Because the Italians harvest it better and wait till the truffle is right for the picking thus the most flavorful.
Truffles are a fancy delicious delicacy. Some say an aphrodisiac. Ounce for ounce still the most expensive food in the world even if you include the horrible truffles that come from China. So, like anything of great value, like the gold rush in the 1800’s, there are people that rush to get their hands on the stuff and want to sell it on the black market for the highest price or do not respect the land where it is harvested to preserve the quality and the integrity of the product thus they are becoming scarce.
They are being trafficked like drugs, stolen and sold again. In Perugia, the most important thing is a man’s trained dog to roam the hillsides and dig for the valued lumpy mushrooms when they are ripe. One at a time, the ugly food is taken from the special earth quality there and sold like a valued gem has been discovered. Truffles grow wild underground usually at the base of an Oak tree.


So, these harvested truffles will go right to the Urbane factory where they will be washed, sorted , frozen or canned or flown fresh to fancy restaurants like New York’s DB Bistro Modern where a $150 hamburger is smothered in truffles with real gold flakes on the top of the bun. A few shavings on pasta can be even more expensive.

There is a reason for the prayers, because of climate changes the harvests are down from an annual haul from 2,000 tons of truffles a hundred years ago to just 30 tons today. The sacristy and high prices have attracted elements of organized crime. It has turned the truffle trade to now resemble the drug trade.
So, a fancy restaurant will not have their money stolen, they will have their truffle stolen. So, be careful. Hold on to your balls and guard them carefully. Yes, your balls are valuable. Your balls of truffles.
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