Take a walk in the woods, and a mushroom you’re guaranteed to find (any time of year) is a polypore. They’re tough, occasionally massive, and one of the most important features of many terrestrial ecosystems.

Truffles, famous for their aphrodisiac effects, are one of the world’s most expensive foods. Their tantalizing flavours have recruited an entire industry of truffle hunters, obsessed with recovering these subterranean morsels. In this episode, we take the truffles perspective as we wonder why they yearn to be unearthed.