Truffle

What It Is

Truffle is the common noun designating the fruiting bodies (sporocarps) of fungi in the genus Tuber. Their entire life cycle takes place in the earth (subterranean). Truffles must live in symbiotic relationships with certain trees to produce the precious sporocarps, therefore representing an indicator of ecosystem balance.

They present an external skin called peridium, which can be smooth or bumpy and of varying colours.
The inner portion (the flesh or gleba) can vary in colour, from white to black and from pink to brown, and presents veins, varying in size and branching, which define cavities containing large cells (spore sacs or ascus), which in turn bear the spores.

The morphological characteristics of the peridium, gleba, ascus and spores, together with the size and the sensory characteristics, will determine the different truffle species.

Composition

Extremely highly-priced truffles are composed, for over 80%, of nothing but water. The following table shows the composition in percentage of a Tuber magnatum Pico (Alba white Truffle) and a Tuber melanosporum Vittad. (black truffle) [by Coli R., Maurizi Coli A., Granetti B., Damiani P.].

T. Magnatum Pico – T. Melanosportum Vittad.

In both truffles, the prevalent minerals are potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper. The white truffle’s value lies not in its nutritional value but in its spontaneity and the pleasure it can generate in consumers. It is for the same reason that market prices vary greatly from one species to another, although the chemical composition is very similar.