truffles

PA140039 - small
Originally uploaded by Cos.

Cos wrote a really lovely email about these truffles. Here's his and Franca's description of their scent:

. . . they have a rather odd perfume. Initial guesses always liken it to gas…but after sniffing it for a bit longer you get all sorts of images popping in to mind. Franca says it smells like the forest in autumn, with ochre coloured leaves falling and a brisk wind smarting your cheeks (her words…but in italian). It is a rather heady perfume that is very, very light but extremely pervasive. I had it on my work desk and you couldn’t smell it directly, but if you didn’t concentrate on the smell (like when you’re working on the computer) it is so strong that it makes you dizzy. It is a difficult perfume to describe. It isn’t spicy, nor musky, nor is it a peppery smell, neither damp/mould nor mushroomy smell,….but at the same time it is all of those. I had it in my pocket last night when I went by the baker, it was wrapped in paper and tied up in a plastic bag, and after a little while the people waiting began to stir a bit than someone said ‘…does anyone else smell truffle’

Lovely!