HOGS
According to The New York Times March 24th 1982;
The explanation, it seems, relates to the sex life of pigs - and perhaps of human beings as well. Researchers in West Germany have found that truffles contain large quantities of a substance also synthesized in the testes of boars. In the boars it is secreted into their saliva when they court females. The Germans report that the substance's musk like scent, ''emanating from the saliva foam, is smelled by the sow and prompts her standing reflex.''
I did say our love of truffles was all about sex and if they turn pigs on they will affect humans as interestingly experiments in Birmingham note some small quantities of these steroids are also found in celery and parsnips.
“There is less chance of a well-trained dog eating ripe and precious truffles than a vicious pig whose has an insatiable taste for them”. Said an Italian truffle hunter.
Using hogs goes back to the Roman Empire but is also well documented in the 15th and 17th centuries in Europe.
Europeans (except Italy which banned it in 1985 due to the damage to the mutually beneficial network of mycelia it caused) use female pigs to detect the truffle for up 3 feet below ground as she becomes excited when sniffing a chemical similar to male swine extract.
The aromas can differ slightly depending on the type of host tree, composition of soil and the microclimate as together the fungal mycelium and the root cells create mycorrhizae which means the plants provides sugars and the fungus provides minerals, water and nutrients from the soil.
Truffles need to be eaten in order to disperse unlike a mushroom above ground, so as they mature the truffle pheromones and gasses become stronger and more attractive.
Pigs are risky as they tend to eat anything and hog owners who have wrestled a 300 lbs. animal for a truffle have often lost fingers. Also a pig on a leash is a sure sign of a truffle hunter where as a dog on a leash might be just a day out.
Unfortunately, each season several dogs are either killed or stolen such is the ferocity of the trade.
In the Oregon USA they are retraining ex retired military dogs to hunt truffles, which is an easier more relaxed lifestyle for both dog and handler in preference to the ‘raking’ method, which mindlessly destroys the environment in which the fungus grows. It is also very short term and stupid.
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