A bidder from Hong Kong has forked out HK$680,000 (US$87,000) to take home the biggest truffle from this this year’s Alba White Truffle auction in Italy.
How big is the biggest you ask? Well the “well-rounded” truffle weighed in at about 850g, making the delicacy cost just over $100 per gram.
The auction, held on Sunday, is the main event at the Alba White Truffle Fair, which attracts 100,000 visitors from around the global to Alba, a small town in the northwestern region of Piemonte, known as Italy’s white truffle capital.
The story was reported by Reuters, which said bidders from Hong Kong participated via satellite link in the fair’s 18th annual auction.
The outlet added that climate change, drought and severe storms, as well as a preference for growing grapes for wine, had taken a toll on the truffle industry, reducing producing and sending prices soaring.
In a good sign for readers of our sister site Coconuts Bangkok, biologists from Chiang Mai University recently found white truffles growing in northern Thailand.
They’re now undertaking research to see whether farming the delicacy is feasible in the country.
