Truffles

What is a truffle ?

Truffle, a fungus belonging to the order Tuberales, is a subterranean European fungi. The fruiting body, which is often referred to as the truffle, is usually round and pitted, and 1-7 cm (0.5-3 inches) in diameter.

Truffles have been collected for at least 3600 years. They have a tantalizing taste and aroma. The flesh of all truffles is nearly white when young; as the truffle matures, the flesh becomes darker with a marbling of lighter tissue.

Economic Importance of Truffles

Truffles are undoubtedly the most sought-after delicacy among the fungi with great economic value. The taste and aroma of commercially collected truffles is so intense that they are used as a flavoring instead of a separate dish.

Cans of tantalising truffles

How does truffle grows?

Growing underground, they are difficult to find and very expensive as a result. It is perhaps the most highly prized of all edible fungi.

Truffle-producing fungi have also formed symbioses with trees (mycorrhizae) because fungi cannot make their own food. The hyphae coat the roots of the tree and help their host absorb soil minerals. In return, the tree host provides the fungus with carbohydrates and other nutrients, the product of the tree’s photosynthesis. Truffles contain spores for reproduction. Many truffles have a strong smell and attract animals such as chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels to help disperse their spores by digging them up.

How are truffles recovered from the soil?

In North America, truffle collectors use clues to find truffles.

First, it must be warm and the soil moist. Truffles are often found 10 to 14 days after a heavy rain. The umbrella-shaped mushrooms which pop up after a good rain can be used as a kind of clock. Look for truffles after these mushrooms have started to collapse.

Second, the right trees present must be present. Truffles are formed by fungi that are partners (ectomycorrhizal) with certain trees such as pines, firs, oaks, hazel nuts, hickories, birches, beeches, and eucalyptus.

Due to truffles' distinctive odour, their underground location may be determined by animals trained for this purpose. Every Spring, truffle hunters in Europe take to the woods, hoping that the sensitive noses of their trained pigs and dogs will lead them to buried treasure.Several species are highly esteemed delicacies, particularly the Perigord truffle, Tuber melanosporum, and are usually found under oak or beech trees.

Pigs and dogs are the usual truffle hunters.

Attempts are being made to farm truffles due to the difficulty in finding them in the wild. The harvest has steadily decreased for the last 90 years, due to forest destruction and the killing of trees by air pollution. France produced 1,000 metric tonnes of truffles in 1892; now, only 50-90 tonnes are harvested each year.

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