'A blessing from God': Iraqi truffle hunters unearth desert harvest

"Here it is, the truffle, a blessing from God!" Zahra Buheir carefully digs out a desert truffle from the sandy earth and shows it off between her calloused fingers."Rain came, and then thunder, bringing truffles up to the surface," the 72-year-old said. Above, Zahra Buheir, 72, a truffle hunter, makes bread in the desert in Samawa, Iraq.

Braving the harsh weather of Iraq's southern desert, as well as left-behind land mines, Buheir and her family of seven have spent weeks hunting for the seasonal truffles that have provided them with an income for generations. Above, Ra'ad Abdelemir, a trader, sorts truffles in a tent at a market in Samawa.

A truffle seller sits at a market in the city of Samawa.

Fetching its hunters up to $7 a kilo this year, Iraq's desert truffle is cheaper than its rarer European cousins that can cost hundreds of dollars or more a kilo. Above, women extract truffles in the desert in Samawa, Iraq.

Hussein Abu Ali (right), a car driver, carries boxes of truffles in the desert in Samawa.

But with Iraq's economy in crisis, the local variety are a big help to Buheir and her family.

This year the rain came late and Buheir could only find about a kilo of truffles a day, one tenth of what she would dig up in a good year. Turning over stones and poking the earth with her bare hands, Buheir's granddaughter, 5-year-old Riyam, accompanied her parents to learn a trade and the desert lifestyle.

Mohsen Farhan, 31, a truffle hunter, eats food with his family in a tent in the desert in Samawa. "When there is no work, truffles are a source of income. And we are happy here," said Farhan.

Learning to hunt for truffles these days also involves understanding the desert's dangers. "We are afraid of wolves, there are a lot here. And there are mines. A while ago, someone died," Farhan said.

Every few days, Hussein Abu Ali, drives into the desert from the city of Samawa to take the truffles to market. There, Ali Tajj al-Din sells them at auction, each with a different name according to size.

Salma Mohsen, 10, poses for a photo holding a truffle in the desert in Samawa.

Abu Jakka Farhan, a truffle hunter, sits in the desert in Samawa.

But customers at Samawa's "Beit al-Hatab" restaurant relish its weekly truffle speciality. "We fry or grill them, but the favourite dish is truffles on rice," said restaurant owner Fawwaz Hatab.

People eat truffles at the restaurant Beit al-Hatab, in Samawa.