Truffle is a wild product, it is a natural product. It is not something you can cultivate or control,” Giordano explains.

This unpredictability contributes to the extreme prices truffles can fetch. People have tried for generations, to no avail, to farm truffles.

And while recent attempts in the U.S. and Australia to recreate truffle-conducive habitats by planting chestnut, oak, and hazelnut trees have shown modest success, the crop has been insubstantial and rarely are full truffles salvageable.

Instead, Urbani works with a network of 18,000 people to hunt for truffles around Italy. “A single truffle hunter with a dog can find a small amount—two ounces, three ounces, quarter of a pound—so we need a lot of people to make sure we are able to collect quantity we need,” he says.

All those employees only drive the price up further.

White Truffles Mushroom Flavours

White truffles also taste earthy, pungent, and musky, but are a bit spicier and more intense with notes of garlic. Never cook white truffles, as heat will destroy the flavor.

White Truffles Mushroom Season

White truffle season is from September to December when they grow wild in the forests around Alba, a small Piemontese township. In particular, they grow deep in the forests of Langhe, a fertile area in Piemonte perfectly situated between the Tanaro and Po Rivers and the Alps and Apennine mountain ranges.