Truffle season shocks chefs as prices double to US$3,200 a pound

New York

DURING a bumper year for Italian white truffles, one of fine dining's most precious (read: expensive) ingredients, San Francisco chef Michael Tusk can get practically profligate with the aromatic mushrooms. He'll even use them to top pizza.

"This is probably not a year for that," says the chef and co-owner of Cotogna and the three-Michelin-starred Quince.