White truffles do cost quite a bit more than the black or french truffles. White or Alba truffles are found on the roots of oak trees in the northern part of Italy for a very limited time each winter and usually under a thin crust of snow. Dogs, not pigs, are used to locate the white truffles. Farmers started poisoning other truffle hunter's dogs several years ago as the price of the truffles starting climbing. Truffles put out more of a smell than a taste, heat kills the effect of truffles and they should be shaved on with a special shaver and never lumped on food. Great with soft scrambled eggs or over fresh pasta cooked only with olive oil and truffles should be added when the noodles are less than totally hot. Store them in a bowl of risotto with plastic covering them or better yet in a bowl with a few fresh eggs, uncracked. The smell of the truffles will enter the eggs through their shell. Topping twice baked Yukon Gold Potatoes, with the insides of the baked potatoes scooped out and having fresh parmesan cheese and fresh cream added, then after baking again, adding BOTH white truffle oil and finally shaving white truffles over the top will make your holiday meal memorable indeed. (See Charlie Trotter's book on vegtables for exact amounts.) There is truffle festival in NYC starting around the first of December which is fantastic. Le Chirc and others participate. Jean George's on Centeral Park is a great place to indulge in white truffles, especially with their incredible sea bass. Expect to see celebrities like James Spader in NYC during that time as being a truffle junkie is a terrible addicition, but we relish and delight in them every year at this time.

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