Italian truffle (Tuber magnatum) photo and description

Italian truffle (Tuber magnatum)

Systematics:
  • Department: Ascomycota (Ascomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Pezizomycotina (Pesizomycotins)
  • Class: Pezizomycetes (Pecicomycetes)
  • Subclass: Pezizomycetidae (Pecicomycetes)
  • Order: Pezizales
  • Family: Tuberaceae (Truffle)
  • Genus: Tuber (Truffle)
  • Kind: Tuber magnatum (Italian truffle)

Synonyms:

  • Truffle real white
  • Truffle Piedmont - from the Piedmont region in northern Italy

Tuber magnatum

Italian truffle (Latin Tuber magnatum ) is a mushroom of the Truffle genus (Latin Tuber) of the Truffle family (Latin Tuberaceae).

Fruiting bodies (modified apothecia) are underground, in the form of irregular tubers, usually 2–12 cm in size and weighing 30–300 g. Sometimes specimens weighing 1 kg or more are found. The surface is uneven, covered with a thin velvety skin that does not separate from the pulp, light ocher or brownish in color.

The pulp is firm, whitish to yellow-gray in color, sometimes with a reddish tint, with a white and creamy brown marbled pattern. The taste is pleasant, the smell is spicy, reminiscent of cheese with garlic.

Spore powder, yellowish-brown, spores 40 × 35 μm, oval, reticulate.

Italian truffle forms mycorrhiza with oak, willow and poplar, and is found under linden trees. It grows in deciduous forests with loose calcareous soil at varying depths. It is most common in northwestern Italy (Piedmont) and the adjacent regions of France, found in Central Italy, Central and Southern France and other regions of southern Europe.

Season: summer - winter.

Like black truffles, these mushrooms are harvested with the help of young pigs or trained dogs.

Similar species:

Trinity truffle (Choiromyces meandriformis) is also found in Russia; it is edible, but not as valued as real truffles.

Truffle Italian - Edible mushroom, delicacy. In Italian cuisine, white truffles are used almost exclusively raw. Grated on a special grater, they are added to sauces, used as a seasoning for various dishes - risotto, scrambled eggs, etc. Truffles cut into thin slices are added to meat and mushroom salads.