The elusive, complex, and baffling scent of the truffle—it’s been compared to garlic, cheese, earth, sex, and gasoline, and more—sent James Beard-award-winning author Rowan Jacobsen down a rabbit hole. He emerged into a mysterious secretive world of black-market deals, obsessive chefs, and some very determined dogs.

Drawing on his new book, Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Scent, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs, Jacobsen explores the industry of truffle hunting, which extends from Italy to eastern Europe, and Oregon to Quebec. Before they were appropriated by “the high priests of haute cuisine and the captains of commerce,” Jacobsen writes, “truffles were the thing from the forest”  searched for mostly by local peasants.

Why has this fungus become a culinary luxury fetching up to $3,000 a pound? Hear Jacobsen’s colorful account of his quest for an answer, and the memorable truffle hunters he met along the way.

Copies of Truffle Hound (Bloomsbury) are available for purchase.

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• Purchase your copy of Truffle Hound by Rowan Jacobson here.
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