Although the truffle possesses a pleasant crunch, it is treasured not so much for its taste or appearance but for its aroma, which has been likened to bedsheets after a night of abandon, slatterns who disdain to bathe, all that is dark and alluring about the human body and soul. In the middle of the winter growing season, they can be fruity and floral. Later, they become muskier…

They are not just pungent. They meld with certain foodstuffs, in particular fresh pasta, melted cheese, and runny eggs, enhancing their taste. They work well with vanilla ice cream, too. They are intoxicating. They weaken and captivate…

Truffle farming is difficult because it may require planting an orchard of hundreds of hazelnut and oak trees to host the mushrooms, but there are certain financial rewards: “The best day for him was December 21, 2008, when Tom located 24.2 pounds of truffles, worth more than $14,000… I selected the best of the previous day’s harvest and paid the prevailing rate of $640 a pound, exactly what French black truffles were selling for in America…”

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Mid-June in east Tennessee means fireflies that flash in unison!

In 1995, scientists confirmed the existence of the Great Smoky Mountain synchronized fireflies, and have subsequently discovered other populations in the Congaree Swamp in South Carolina and other high altitude locations in the Appalachian mountains. As this curious phenomenon remained undiscovered for years, it is quite possible that there are other varieties of fireflies blinking in unison throughout the United States, perhaps even in your own backyard.

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