Pigs are excellent foragers and they can find food easily in the wild. They have the right abilities that allow them to thrive better than other domesticated animals and they can be trained for food hunting.
How do pigs find truffles? Using a pig’s sense of smell, they can detect a truffle’s scent as deep as three feet underground. Truffles release a specific aroma that enriches their flavor and attracts pigs. Once detected, pigs will root the earth until it reaches the truffle.
Traditionally, truffle hunters previously used pigs to look for truffles to sell or consume. These worker pigs are referred to as “truffle hogs” and they are still being used until today.
Truffle hunting with pigs began way back to the glory days of the Roman Empire and became well known after being documented around the 15th century.
Way back 1875, truffle hogs could cost around $200 but now any domestic breed of female pig is capable of learning how to hunt truffles.
Often times, the truffle hogs are house pets of truffle hunters and they get rewarded by their owners handsomely if they are skilled and disciplined enough.
Pigs in general are blessed with excellent sense of smell and it is why their snout is at least 2,000 times more sensitive than a human nose.
They can detect odors as deep as 25 feet underground and recognize scent from 8 to 11 kilometers away!
Unfortunately, most of these pigs are not properly trained or disciplined and that is why they cannot control themselves when they find truffles.
However, truffle hogs have fallen out of favor when hunters realized the pigs were eating the truffles most of the times instead of letting their owners know.
Dogs were used as a substitute truffle hunter when pigs were no longer effective and they were referred to as “truffle hounds”.
There are a lot of differences between truffle hogs and truffle hounds.
Truffle hogs have stronger sense of smell and are smarter than truffle hounds but due to their lack of self-control when eating truffles, hunters began preferring truffle hounds.
Truffle hounds rely more on their eyesight but their sense of smell is good enough to detect truffles beneath the earth and rarely show interest in consuming the truffle.
Though the pigs have and show more devotion in finding truffles, it is more out of self-interest instead of doing it for their owners and that is why dogs became more popular than truffle hunting pigs.
Why do pigs like to find truffles?
Truffles are actually fungi that contain androstenol which is a sex hormone found in the saliva of male pigs.
The substance is actually produced in the male pig’s testes that get secreted to their saliva when courting female pigs.
Due to this substance, female pigs are easily attracted to truffles and root the earth because of it. The same thing can actually be applied to humans as truffles can act as a stimulant because of its specific substances.
Truffles can be considered as an “aphrodisiac” for both humans and pigs!
The side effects of truffle has been proven by conducting several tests and one of them is asking male participators how they view a seductive female after sniffing or consuming a truffle.
It has been revealed that those who have sniffed or consumed truffles had shown higher sexual desires than those who have not and this is possibly why pigs also get attracted to truffles.
Why pigs were banned from finding truffles in Italy back in 1985
Aside from the pigs eating the truffle themselves, another reason why pigs fell out of favor was due to the destruction they can cause to the environment when rooting the earth.
It is undeniable that they are great at digging the ground for food but they can also terribly affect whatever they dig through in the path of their target.
The pigs and other animals can damage the mycelium which is a part of the fungus that helps mushrooms or fungi reproduce. The damage done to the mycelium caused a decline in production numbers for truffles.
Truffles are actually VERY RARE and that is part of the reason why it is VERY expensive. They can only be found in certain parts in the world mostly in Italy, France, and the Pacific Northwest.
What is the advantage of using pigs for finding truffles
Although humans can manage on their own or with the help of a dog because truffles release their strongest scents when they begin to ripe in Fall throughout Winter and early Spring, pigs can still be the best option.
There is no way to tell if a truffle is ripe or not other than eating it!
However, since dogs only familiarize themselves with the scent, they also cannot tell if a truffle is ripe unless they are specifically trained for it which may be difficult.
But for truffle hogs, they can easily find the ripest truffle than unripe truffles!
If not for the damage to the mycelium and their inability to control their lust, pigs should still be the best option to use for truffle hunting.
What type of pig can be used for finding truffles
Almost any domesticated breed of pigs can be used for truffle hunting and they can be trained easily due to their high intelligence.
Young female pigs can still help detect strong odors but it may not be as effective as an adult female pig. Young pigs will have no sexual drive or will not be attracted to the scent of a truffle as much as adults do.
Most breed of pigs reach sexual maturity at around five to six months of age. The best way to use pigs when truffle hunting is to make sure they are pure and have not participated in breeding before.
The more pure a female pig is, the more devotion they will show when they pick up the scent of a truffle but it can also be a lot more risky as they can be harder to stop once they get to the truffle.
It is suggested to use a hard leash that will allow owners to easily pull back pigs once the truffle is exposed in order to prevent doing damage to the area and to the truffle itself.
How pigs and truffles benefit from each other
Since pigs hunt and eat truffles specifically, many people might begin to wonder how it can contribute to the ecosystem.
Well, when pigs consume truffles they will later release the spores the moment they soil the earth. It is similar to how bees pollinate our world and why it is okay for pigs to continuously consume truffles.
In a sense, truffles rely on animals to dig them up and spread their spores to continue their production in the world.
This is how the ecosystem normally works as everything should play out a certain role that can be beneficial for everyone.
Related Questions
- Are truffles illegal?
Truffles are not illegal but there is a similar mushroom that is often confused with the culinary truffles that are actually illegal.
Truffles are safe to consume and can be sold by anyone who successfully manages to hunt them. You do not need a license to hunt and sell truffles that you find.
However, truffle hunters are often advised to be careful especially when hunting as the truffle business has been so rare and demanded that many illegal groups tend to get in the way of honest hunters.
There have been reported cases of truffle hunters getting into a fight with other competitive hunters or getting their animal companion like hounds and hogs killed during the process just because of truffles.
It is also risky to sell truffles to suspicious buyers as they can be part of illegal organizations that target unwary hunters and sell the hunted truffles double the prize.
When they say truffles are rare enough that some would kill for it, you can believe that saying.
When you hunt for truffles, it is advised to let a trusted family or friend know about your activity and location just in case you encounter any of those criminal hunters.
- How much is a truffle?
The common black truffle currently costs $95 per ounce according to research and the much rarer white truffle can cost $168 per ounce.
The largest truffle in the world was sold for $61,000 at Sotheby’s auction in New York.
There is also the Alba White Truffle which was sold for $120,000, the Italian White Truffle sold for $200,000 and lastly, the 3.3 Pound Truffle from Tuscany together with the 2.86 Pound Truffle from Croatia were both sold for $330,000
These truffles ranked as the most expensive truffles ever sold in the world.
It is said that truffles could cost more expensive than gold itself due to its rarity and how badly demanded it is.
Many people rely on their luck and continue to search for truffles until today as it can truly make them instantly rich.
- Where do pigs usually find truffles?
Pigs often find truffles under trees of beech, birch, hazel, hornbeam, oak, pine, and poplar.
The reason behind this is because truffles are considered “fruits” of the fungi that live in mutually beneficial (ectomycorrhizal) symbioses with the roots of host trees.
This means that the fungi and their host are often “giving” and “taking” from each other in order to nourish each other properly.
Truffles are commonly found in Italy, France, and the Pacific Northwest.