Why Truffles Can Cost $2,500 Per Pound

Truffles are the most expensive fungi you can eat.

Truffles are the fruiting body of an ectomycorrhizal fungus and the one of most expensive things you can eat. Italian white truffles are renowned for their pungent smell and earthy taste. In general, truffles play by their own rules. Truffle sniffing dogs are needed to find the fungus. And cultivation has been difficult with black truffles and hasn't happened at all with white truffles. It's a journey filled with hunting, counterfeiting, and occasional night time heists to get truffles from the ground to being shaved over your pizza.

Video by Gina Barton

Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com to get up to speed on everything from Kurdistan to the Kim Kardashian app.

Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Or on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o