What is a truffle

Basically the Truffle is an underground version of a mushroom which grows around the roots of trees. It's about the size of small potato which relies on animals eating them to distribute their spores rather than air currents as in the case of mushrooms. They are highly prized by the worlds greatest chefs but the best flavours come from mature truffles, most notably the French black truffle from the Perigord region of France and the Italian white truffle from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.

The truffle has a long and distinguised history, being mentioned in the bible and being well known to the ancient Egyptians, who held truffles in high esteem and ate them coated in goose fat. The Romans and Greeks used them extensively for medicinal and therapeutic purposes.
In the Middle Ages, the church viewed the truffle as the work of the devil and so its use was diminished and sparse.
King Louis XIV drove the truffle back to prominence, with his fascination in this amazing ingredient. The advent of World War 1 destroyed much of the prime truffle harvest areas and production dipped to less that 400 tons by the mid 1960's since which it has enjoyed a renaissance amongst modern celebrity chefs who have introduced it to the masses.

Its possible to identify, find and enjoy Truffles of your own. They are not that easy to find but anyone can do it. One of the best resources I have found to learn how is a Field Guide to North American Truffles: Hunting, Identifying, and Enjoying the World's Most Prized Fungi by Matt Trappe, James Trappe and Frank Evans and containing full profiles of over 80 North American Truffles.
One of the most effective ways of finding truffles is to use trained dogs to sniff them out. One advantage of using dogs in this way is that they can be trained to find but not eat the truffles which gives the dog a distinct advantage over the commonly used pig. If you don't fancy finding your own truffles then the Gourmet Food Store is the best place to buy them with the largest choice.