A white truffle sold for a record 95,000 euros ($111,000) at an international auction conducted by satellite from Italy, and was flown to its buyers in Hong Kong.

The truffle, weighing more than a kilogram (2.2 pounds), was found near the Italian town of Alba by a dog. Restaurants in the U.K., Hong Kong and Italy held dinners for the charity sale. The fungus will be presented at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Hong Kong today.

Umberto Bombana, chef de Cuisine at Hong Kong's Ritz Carlton hotel, uses a brush on the 1.2 kg Alba white truffle at the hotel in Hong Kong November 18, 2005. The rare fungus was bought by a consortium of Hong Kong bidders during a satellite-linked charity auction in the Castle of Grinzane Cavour near Alba, Italy on November 13, 2005 for 95,000 euro ($111,477). The truffle was served at a private dinner in Hong Kong on Friday. Picture taken November 18, 2005. REUTERS/Ritz Carlton Hotel/Handout

``The white truffle is unique in the gourmet world,'' said Umberto Bombana, chef at Toscana Restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton, who'll cook with the truffle. ``The garlicky flavor is a wonderful dish enhancement.'' Truffles should be thinly sliced and served raw over other food, he said.

Truffles are among the world's most expensive foods, along with some types of caviar. White truffles can't be cultivated – they're a fungus related to the mushroom and grow underground. Most truffles weigh from 10 to 100 grams and sell for as much as $3,900 per kilo wholesale and $5,160 per kilo retail, according to the Ritz-Carlton.

Wealthier people are bidding up items from art to truffles and teeth. A tooth that might have been Napoleon's sold for 11,000 pounds ($19,122) at a U.K. auction last week.

Mara Hotung won the truffle bid on behalf of a Hong Kong- based group, trumping a bid from a London buyer, the South China Morning Post reported today.

The U.K. venue was London's Il Fiore restaurant, while Hong Kong bidders gathered at the Ritz-Carlton's Toscana and Italians at the Castello Grinzane Cavour in Alba. In London, Marco Pierre White bought four truffles for his new Luciano restaurant, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. He donated one, weighing 14 ounces, to the rival Sketch restaurant, the newspaper said.

The town of Alba is the home of the annual truffle festival and the Mercato del Tartufo, the weekend truffle market, which dates back to 1929. The season for white truffles starts in early September and ends in March.

Source: Bloomberg