The Truffle
Bianco Pregiato
Nero Pregiato
Nero Liscio
Nero Moscato
Scorzone
Uncinato
Marzuolo
THE TRUFFLE
Tuber Micheli, is a genus of mushrooms of the order Pezizales, family Tuberaceae.
To the genus Tuber belong several species of underground fungi commonly called truffles, belonging to the Tuberaceae family, phylum (division) of the Ascomycetes. Truffles have an underground fruiting body, that is underground, and grow spontaneously in the ground next to the roots of some trees or shrubs, in particular oaks and holm oaks, with which they establish a symbiotic relationship (mycorrhization).
Commonly by truffle is meant only the hypogeal fruiting body which is identified with the help of dogs and harvested by hand. The truffle is an extremely valuable and sought-after food, very expensive. The typical penetrating and persistent scent develops only after ripening and has the purpose of attracting wild animals (pig, wild boar, badger, dormouse, fox), despite the ground cover, to spread the spores contained and perpetuate the species.
The species of this genus have a globose carpophore, with the external surface (peridium) smooth or warty, the interior (gleba) marbled, brown, sub-globose or ellipsoidal, reticulated or thorny spores.
PRODUCTION AND USE.
Truffles are relatively rare, as their growth depends on seasonal as well as environmental factors.
In certain years of particular scarcity they come to cost very high figures.
Italy is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of truffles.
In the whole peninsula it is possible to collect all the truffle species used in gastronomy.
The village of Quadri (Abruzzo), City of the Truffle
The most important white truffle production areas, due to their geographical conformation, are Piedmont (in particular Alba, in the province of Cuneo, the province of Asti and a part of the province of Turin), south-eastern Lombardy (Carbonara of Po, in the province of Mantua, in the protected Isola Boscone), Emilia-Romagna (all the Apennine belt starting from Piacenza, and in particular the hills of Bologna and Forlì), Tuscany (especially the municipalities of San Miniato, in province of Pisa and San Giovanni d'Asso, in the province of Siena), Umbria (Città di Castello, Gubbio and Norcia, in the province of Perugia) the Marches (with Acqualagna and Sant'Angelo in Vado in the lead, in the province of Pesaro and Urbino; the area of the Sibillini Mountains is also very popular), Abruzzo with the town of Ateleta, in the province of L'Aquila, Quadri (province of Chieti), and Molise, whose areas of greatest collection are those falling within the municipalities of Larino and Spinete, in the province of Campobasso, and Fros olone, San Pietro Avellana and Vastogirardi in the province of Isernia.
Much more common, on the other hand, is the black truffle, which sees in Umbria and Molise some of the areas most suited to its production, both of the summer variety (the so-called scorzone) and of the more precious winter variety (Tuber melanosporum).
Other recently discovered productions can be found in Campania (Sannio and Irpinia), Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily, where truffles have only begun to be valued very recently.
The Po Delta, in Veneto, is another area that is well suited to host the production of scorzone, but also of Tuber albidum, called marzolino or bianchetto.
RESEARCH WITH PIGS AND DOGS.
In Italy it is always possible to collect truffles, except for the end of April period. Traditionally, the harvest was accomplished using a pig. The problem with this method is that the pig is greedy for truffles, and it must be held back to prevent it from eating the product. Nowadays, in Italy yes
they only employ properly trained dogs. No particular breeds are used (apart from the lagotto romagnolo), on the contrary, generally a small breed is chosen. On the other hand, in some regions of France, particularly in Lot and Périgord, it is still customary today to go in search of truffles with perfectly trained pigs; a habit that in Italy, as an accurate research by Giordano Berti in a large number of illustrated and photographic magazines has shown, disappeared after World War II following the growing demand for truffles and the consequent development of "schools" for training of truffle dogs.
Despite the association of the image of the wild boar with the truffle, the collection with wild boar has never been used, due to the evident difficulty of controlling a wild and untameable animal.
THE CULTIVATION
The cultivation of truffles or tartuficoltura is at the experimental stage in Italy and France. To create a land suitable for the intensive production of truffles, or cultivated truffle ground, it is necessary to choose a calcareous and humus-poor soil, choose a variety of truffles and plant truffle arboreal and shrubby essences (oak, hazelnut, willow, holm oak). The seedlings are previously mycorrhized, i.e. the roots are already in symbiosis with the chosen fungal hyphae. The results of truffle farming have been disappointing with the most valuable species of truffles (Tuber magnatum), while with the others, the production reaches excellent levels of quality and quantity. Given the strong demand there have not yet been any major impacts on prices.
Excellent results have been obtained with the planting of further mycorrhized plants in wooded areas where the truffle grows naturally. By controlled truffle we mean a natural truffle bed improved with appropriate cultivation practices and increased with the planting of suitable truffle arboreal and shrub plants, previously mycorrhized.
