SNIFFING THEM OUT
These fungi are not easy to spot in the wild, so you need to utilise the power of a pig or pooch’s nose to find them. Once truffles are ripe and ready to harvest, they release a unique and potent aroma from beneath the soil. Pigs in particular have become the traditional truffle hunters due to the familiarity of the chemical composition of truffle aroma. In hunting truffles, female pigs are the best animals for the job. That’s because within the truffle scent is a chemical called androstenol, a sex hormone also found in the salvia of male pigs. The aphrodisiac attraction of the truffles’ aroma means that female pigs are quickly drawn to them. Along with an attraction to truffle scents, pigs also enjoy their taste, and so they are quickly removed after finding truffle treasures to avoid them being eaten.