Most frequently asked questions about truffles? Here are the answers about Italian truffles you were looking for.

Everything you ever wanted to know about truffles: from harvesting to symbiont plants, a practical guide about seasons, taste and uses.

Defining truffles as “a world” is an understatement because the “world of truffles” is a “universe”. A galaxy of taste and recipes, culinary experiments and ancient rites, traditions and modernity, scientific definitions, and perfumes. 

But… how can you orientate in this vast universe? 

The questions are so many, that’s why this practical guide can be helpful. 

In this short guide, we would like to answer the most frequently asked questions about truffles. Thus, you will be able to clarify all doubts, solve questions or simply confirm a supposition.

After all, all great journeys begin with a first step. 

So, let’s start our adventure discovering the answers to most frequently asked questions about truffles!

 

Where to find truffles?

One of the most frequently asked questions about truffles is a very common one: “Where to find truffles?”. 

The truffle is an underground mushroom, it is found underground, but only next to some types of plants. Therefore, the first thing to do is to find the right plant, depending on the truffle we are looking for.

However, any specific kind of truffle needs very specific conditions to grow: type of soil, altitude, and maximum humidity.

But, moving on to practice, where to find truffles?

Truffles can be found in the woods but also in truffle farms (soils where truffles are born in a natural, controlled, or artificial way). Natural truffles grow up spontaneously. The controlled ones, on the other hand, grow up using mycorrhized plants, in which the truffle’s spores are already attached to the roots, allowing the development of new truffles.

Finally, artificial truffles grow up in special environments set up for the growth of truffles. This kind of production requires a ten-year and not easy work, and gives good results for The Precious Black Truffle, Bianchetto and Scorzone, but not yet for the Precious White.

 

Which is the most expensive truffle?

Here is another of the most frequently asked questions about truffles. Before answering, however, it is necessary to make a distinction between black truffles and white truffles.

In the first group of truffles we can find the Scorzone, the Uncinato, the Brumale and the Nero Pregiato. And the latter, the Tuber Melanosporum Vittadini, is the most valuable in the family of black truffles, by virtue of its strong flavor and its delicate scent that are not altered during cooking.

This truffle can be eaten raw or cooked, unlike the white truffle, which loses its flavor during cooking instead.

However, the most expensive truffle among the white ones is the Tuber Magnatum Pico (aka the Precious White Truffle). Thanks to its garlic scent, with notes reminiscent of fermented cheese, combined with an exceptional and slightly spicy taste, this truffle wins the first place. This “masterpiece” needs to be used carefully: the Precious White Truffle, in fact, is used only raw, perhaps grated, but never cooked. 

Given these characteristics, as well as for its rarity, this truffle is the most expensive truffle ever. Therefore, if you want to answer the question “What is the most valuable truffle?”…you can reply “The Precious White Truffle” without any doubt. 

 

What are the truffle’s symbionts?

H3 > Which plants are the symbiote for each truffle?

Truffles grow underground, in symbiosis with certain types of plants (which are therefore called symbionts), but each truffle has a favorite soil and its symbiote plants.

The Precious White Truffle, for example, loves oaks (such as oak, downy oak, oak, Turkey oak), poplars, hazelnuts, willows, linden trees, black hornbeams, oriental hornbeams and, although rarely, some conifers such as black pine. The  Precious Black Truffle, on the other hand, prefers downy oak, Turkey oak, hazel, black hornbeam, fetish, and cistus.

Hooked truffles and Summer truffles, in turn, prefer plants such as pines, beeches, hornbeams and oaks.

 

How to become a truffle hunter?

Here is another of the most frequently asked questions about truffles.

To become truffle hunters, you must attend a course, pass an exam, and obtain the appropriate card, in accordance with the law. Truffle hunters must not only know symbiote species and plants, but also safeguard the delicate and sensitive natural habitat of the truffle.

For this reason, they need notions ranging from the right behavior to keep in the woods to the correct use of the truffle hunter’s vanghetto Finally, truffle hunters who obtain the card, must use a trained dog to start the truffle research. 

 

Truffles harvesting | What time of the year do you harvest truffles?

Truffles can be searched only during specific periods of the year.

Consequently, you need to know the calendar of the collection of the various types of truffles, which varies depending on the individual regions. However, the period from the beginning of October to the end of December usually indicates the harvesting period for the Precious Whites and for Hooked Truffles. 

The Precious Black Truffle, on the other hand, is harvested from mid-November to mid-March. The Brumale Truffle can be found in the period from January to March, while the Marzuolo Truffle is harvested from mid-January to mid-April.

And the Summer Scorzone? From mid-May to the end of August, depending on the different areas. 

 

How to preserve truffles?

One of the most frequently asked questions about truffles is: “how to preserve truffles?”. 

A fresh truffle must be consumed as soon as possible, to fully enjoy its taste and aroma, but it is also possible to preserve it without making it lose intensity and pleasantness. 

How is truffle preserved? In different ways. For example:

 

• In the refrigerator. Truffles must be wrapped in a cotton cloth or absorbent kitchen paper, to be replaced once a day: so, it will remain dry, but without the paper absorbing moisture or creating mold.

 

• In oil. Once cleaned the truffles is placed in a glass jar, covered with oil, and then, tightly closed, in the fridge (for a maximum of 4/5 days in case of White Truffles and 8-10 days if it is a black one).

 

• In rice. This method can only be used for black truffles and for short periods. You can preserve truffle like this only for a couple of days. Rice tends to dry the truffle a lot.

 

Italian truffles for sale

After having answered the most frequently asked questions about truffles, you can deepen your knowledge of this wonderful world by keeping up to date on the news of Trivelli Tartufi… 

Otherwise, you can simply dedicate yourself to tasting the extraordinary flavors of a single great universe, that of Italian truffles, tasting the products of our online shop.