THE Egyptians cooked them wrapped in parchment. The Greeks and Romans believed them to be good aphrodisiacs and medicines. Costly and rare, truffles are savoured by lovers of fine food.

Now West Devon is on the brink of a culinary breakthrough that could put the borough on the nation?s food map ? a rare truffle has been unearthed in the area.

Rambler Cooper Black came across the truffle while out walking with his mongrel, Pickles.

Cooper, a self-employed labourer, said: ?I was throwing a stick for Pickles. We were near some oak trees when he picked up the stick then suddenly dropped it.

?He started sniffing the ground and clawing at it.

?His tail was going like mad. I thought he?d found a rat or something, but then he dug up a strange fungus thing.

?He carried on sniffing around and found lots more.?

Cooper brought the fungus to the Times and the newspaper immediately contacted top chef Peter Gorton.

Peter, master chef at the famed Horn of Plenty Restaurant at Gulworthy, confirmed the fungus was a rare white truffle, usually found in North West America and previously unheard of in England.

Peter said: ?I?m so excited! Normally, I use Italian truffles, I also like the ones from Perigord in France, but to find these rare North American ones in West Devon is like stumbling across a culinary treasure trove.

?We?ll be the only part of the UK to produce truffles ? I?ve tasted them and, believe me, they?re wonderful, they have such an intense flavour, they?re delectable.?

Peter said he aimed to ?corner the market? for the West Devon truffles so that he would be the only chef to have them.

He said truffles can command a price of hundreds of pounds per kilo and are very versatile.

?They are lovely served with layers of pasta or as the ingredient in ravioli, they can even be placed in port and preserved.

?And the great thing about this discovery is that it?s smack on time ? this type of truffle is perfect now.?

The rare truffle, aprilis baceolus, is at its best this month. How it reached our shores from North West America is open to speculation. One theory is that spores could have ?hitched? a ride in the jetstream of a transatlantic aeroplane flight.

Truffles are usually unearthed by pigs or specially trained hounds.

The exact location of the West Devon find is not being disclosed so as to deter truffle hunters.