Some time ago CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment on truffles. European white truffles sell for as much as $3,600 a pound, but harvests are down and a black market has emerged - none of which has dampened the appetite for this prized fungi.
This is the way reporter Lesley Stahl introduced the segment:
"Just a couple of shavings of black truffles from France, known as black diamonds, can cost hundreds of dollars in a restaurant in Paris. White truffles from Italy can cost more than three times as much.
Truffles are a fancy, delicious delicacy - some say an aphrodisiac - and, as we first reported in January, they're ounce for ounce the most expensive food in the world. If you go to France and Italy, as we did, you learn quickly that truffles are under siege because they're becoming scarce. They're being trafficked like drugs, stolen by thugs and threatened by inferior imports from China."
You can read a full transcript for the segment here.
