The world’s largest white truffle will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s auction house in New York this weekend. Nicknamed ‘Big Boy’ and weighing in at 4.16 pounds or 1.89 kilos, the giant fungus is almost twice as large as the previous record. A member of the Balestra Family of Sabatino Truffles in Italy found the giant white monster a week ago in the Umbrian region of the country.
Federico Balestra says he will be donating the money made from the sale to charity. With bids starting at $50,000 and some people talking about astronomical sums like $1 million dollars, there should be plenty to give away. Cashed up foodies have paid up to $417,200 for previous truffly giants.
Sabatino Truffles is one of the largest suppliers of truffles in the world, but Federico Balestra says the really big ones only come around every 100 to 200 years.
After the white truffle auction at Sotheby’s there will be a wine sale with lots starting at $200 and going all the way up to $60,000+. I think I’ll have to seriously look at new sources of income as I couldn’t even bid on the cheapest bottle of wine. You could say I’m a starving foodie 😉
Update: well that was a fizzer after all the auction hype. The world’s largest truffle sold for just $61,250 USD to a bidder in Taiwan. Almost a bargain if you think of smaller truffles going for more than $400,000.
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