White truffle: description, habitat, taste

One of the most expensive mushrooms in the world is a white truffle. For the price and taste qualities, he competes only with his black fellow. In the past centuries, only very wealthy people could afford to eat white truffles. In our time, not every restaurant can boast a permanent menu of these exquisite mushrooms. In addition to excellent taste, they have another interesting property. The white truffle is a mushroom, which is one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs in the world. Even Dumas noted such miraculous properties of these fungi.

Truffles have simply amazing aroma, which allows animals to find them even under a layer of soil. From the point of view of cooking, one can talk about the properties of these fungi simply to infinity. They are in perfect harmony with different dishes and are able to turn ordinary food into a delight for connoisseurs. These mushrooms are most often consumed in raw or dried form. This allows you to better feel their indescribable taste and aroma.

Description

A white truffle is an underground mushroom. Its fruiting body has a somewhat irregular shape. In appearance, it resembles a tuber of Jerusalem artichoke or potatoes. The weight of a mature specimen can reach 1.5 kg. However, there were individuals with a greater mass. In diameter, the white truffle, as a rule, reaches 15-20 cm. At the base, it has a slight narrowing. In the dried form, the volume of the fungus decreases several times. Young specimens are covered with whitish smooth skin. Over time, it darkens, becomes covered with tubercles and cracks. The flesh of the fungus is rather dense and dry to the touch. In young truffles, it is white with a marble tint and yellow veins (there are reservoirs with spores in them). Old specimens have dark flesh with brown veins. A very strong specific flavor has a white truffle. Photos of this fungus can be seen in this article. The appearance of macromycetes may vary slightly, depending on the region of growth.

Habitat

Truffles grow in coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests. They can be found in loose, well-warmed and moderately moist soils with a not very developed grass cover. Most often they are found in birch forests, aspen trees, near hazel bushes, and also in young plantings of spruce and pine trees. They are collected in August-September. In the Russian forests there are only white truffles. Although there is information about the finding of black.

Search for truffles

To search for truffles, animals are used. As a rule, these are dogs and pigs (boars). They can smell and find the mushroom even under a layer of soil. In boars, the aroma of these fungi is associated with the smell of a female for unknown reasons, and they are able to smell the target at a distance of about 10 m. However, when hunting truffles with pigs, one must be careful. If the boar finds a mushroom, it will not slow down digging and eating it. Therefore, muzzles are often worn on them. Truffles are also searched with dogs (females). To this they are specially trained from the first months of life. First they are given milk with a decoction of mushrooms. When the puppy grows up, they begin to study with him in the room. They hide somewhere (under the rags of cloth, etc.) a piece of wood rubbed with truffles, and make the dog look for it by smell. For successes rewarding yummy. As the dog grows older, workouts are transferred to the yard, to the garden, and then to the forest.