However, their rich taste and aroma make their price, scarcity, and quite unappealing appearance all worth it. Are you considering truffles for culinary use? Then it pays to acquaint yourself with the different varieties of truffles available nowadays. In doing so, you know your various choices and how to pick the best one for your particular dish. There are also different truffle products which also provide the same pungent taste, like truffle oil, butter, honey, vinegar and paste. There s even a truffle vodka, which is not only used in cocktails but also in different dishes. If you have decided to purchase truffle products instead of truffles, then you expect less intense flavour. You need a great deal of patience and a little luck to be able to find a truffle. In America, people locate truffle mushrooms using a simple garden rake. If you can find something yellowish, beige, or reddish brown that resembles a potato, you might be just lucky because that s a truffle! For many centuries, dogs and pigs have been trained to hunt truffle mushrooms. Regardless of variety, truffles work best when paired with fat-rich foods such as cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano varieties), butter, cream, and foie gras. Truffles are great with pasta, too. Grate them over the creamy sauce of your pasta, and you re sure to enjoy savoring this flavorful dish. Have a hearty breakfast courtesy of black truffles combined with scrambled eggs or omelets. It also has a very pungent and earthy odor once it is ripe. When used, this type of truffle is mixed with dishes with pineapple, ground almonds, Parmesan and chocolate as ingredients. - the French black truffle or Tuber melanosporum. This is considered as among the most expensive types, ranging from $1000 to $3000 per pound. An example would be a truffle company in North Carolina, the Garland s Gourmet Mushrooms and Truffles who have been in the truffle business since 1990s. Although, most truffles could be found in the wild, history showed that they were cultivated during 1800s in France. However, the First World War caused serious damage on the truffle cultivation.