This year, the price of white truffles ballooned to $3200 a pound in select U.S. markets. The primary driver of the price increase (more than double the 2016 average) was a lackluster growing season that deprived the underground fungus of the cooler, damper temperatures it needs to thrive.

But even when supply is less scarce, tartufo bianco from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy exists as the world’s most coveted culinary prize.  It was not always this way. In fact, as recently as the mid-20th century, most high-end chefs had never even tasted the delicacy, let alone considered incorporating it into their menus.