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The words “musky,” “garlick-y,” “sulphurous,” and “funky” come up a lot. It's believed that some of the distinctive aroma comes from a molecule called androstenone, a hormone that is also produced by male pigs and whose presence in truffles is said to be the reason that pigs make fine truffle hunters.
Consequently, why do I hate the smell of truffle?
It's a fact -- people react to truffles in vastly different ways. Nearly 25% of the population do not smell androstenone, a chemical that contributes to truffle's signature musky aroma (and makes female pigs go into mating stance).
Subsequently, one may also ask, do truffles smell bad?
No one has figured out how to cultivate white truffles, so the supply is very limited. Most are found using dogs that are trained to sniff them out in the forest. SMITH: Truffles smell kind of like dirty socks and taste famously earthy. People pay a small fortune for that flavor.
That's because white truffles lack an outer shell, leaving them exposed to the elements. Truffles are rare, in part, because they are nearly impossible to cultivate (recreating the necessary growing conditions is both difficult and costly and it can take years to yield truffles and decades to turn a profit).