Truffles - the world's most valuable mushrooms with a heady, earthy, garlic aroma and unusually delicate taste - have been prized by gourmets for centuries and were considered aphrodisiacs by the ancient Greeks. Of the nearly 70 known varieties of this mushroom, the white truffle is the most valuable.
How truffles are searched
There is a surprising irony in how truffles are found - one of the most expensive foods on the planet can be obtained by enlisting the help of an animal that many consider "unclean." Pigs love these mushrooms so much that they are able to smell their aroma under the thickness of the earth. Another "joke" of nature, hidden in truffles, was appreciated by scientists not long ago - in these mushrooms, which are famous among connoisseurs precisely for their delicate aroma, the most important component of the smell is dimethyl sulfide. It would seem, what is it? But it is this ingredient that is "responsible" for the smell of boiled cabbage, which many find too simple and, moreover, unpleasant.
Truffles are like soft, cracked tubers. They grow at the roots of trees such as oak, chestnut, linden, poplar, beech and hazel. Sometimes the mushroom can be found more than a meter underground, but the truffle will never grow beyond the shadow cast by the tree branches. Mushrooms grow in the wild throughout Europe, when they “ripen”, truffles give off a strong, distinctive odor that the animals' sensitive noses can smell. Pig gourmets were the first people who began to use in the search for delicacies, but it was very difficult to "hunt" with them. Firstly, pigs are very weighty hunters and they are not so easy to deliver to the place of search. Secondly, having found a mushroom, they strive to eat it immediately. Soon, the pigs were replaced by specially trained dogs, whose sensitive but in no way inferior to a pig's patch. As soon as the dog finds the mushroom, it starts barking loudly and then it's time for the truffle collector. Using a special narrow spatula with a long handle, he digs in the mushroom, and then removes it, trying not to touch it with his hands, otherwise the truffle will start to rot. If the mushroom is not yet ripe, it is buried back to allow it to grow. The best specimens of mushrooms reach a weight of 100 grams or more.
Types of truffles
Truffles do not grow in artificial conditions. All attempts to grow them from spores or seeds have ruined the collapse, so mushrooms are collected only in the wild. Depending on where the truffle grew and what variety it belongs to, the price of the mushroom is set.
The most valuable are the white truffles grown in the Alba region of Piedmont. In fact, these are mushrooms of a delicate cream color with white marble veins. Black truffles from Périgord, France are considered next in value. They are followed by Italian black truffles from Spoleto, which actually have a delicate dark brown skin, also mottled with white veins.
How to use truffles
Truffles are used as flavors, little by little added to various dishes such as omelets, pasta, risotto, and various sauces. To make truffles more accessible, they are flavored with olive oil or salt. Although such products are still expensive, they are not as expensive as the mushrooms themselves, and they also last much longer.
