Introducing The Italian White Truffle – Tuber Magnatum
Tuber Magnatum – Italian White Truffle
The Italian white truffle (Tuber magnatum) is observed mainly below 600 meters ASL in Northern Italy and up to 900 meters ASL in Central Italy. It is also discovered in compact spots of south-jap France, in Istria, Croatia, and the Ticino district of Switzerland.
The indicate January temperatures in these parts vary from -2 to 8°C and mean July temperatures from 18 to 26°C. The mean annual precipitation varies from 500 to 2000 mm, which is unfold additional or a lot less evenly in the course of the 12 months. Nevertheless in summer, this rain is typically as thunderstorms.
In Italy, this truffle is identified in woods with much more or fewer shut canopies, also in locations with fairly sparse vegetation together stream beds. Host trees consist of the hazelnut (Corylus avellana), willows (Salix spp.), hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia), Italian alder (Alnus cordata), poplars and aspens (Populus spp.) and oaks (Quercus spp.). The most successful hosts are poplars and willows.
The Italian truffle is harvested from mid August until eventually the conclude of December. In August and early September, the fruiting truffles are typically severely infested by insect larvae these kinds of as Suillia univittata.
In contrast to the black truffle, the Italian truffle is employed either uncooked or additional to dishes right after cooking. The white truffle is employed as flavouring for salads or pasta, to retain its delicate and unstable aroma. As the black truffle is generally applied in cooked dishes and is harvested in between November and March, there is minimal competitors in the marketplace involving the two varieties of truffles.
Tuber magnatum (Italian white truffle) is the most high priced of the truffles. It is deemed to be the queen of all truffles when the black truffle is viewed as king in gastronomic circles.
Massive Italian white truffles in extra of 250 gr. and up to 2 kg. typically need a rather bigger selling price. The harvesters receive about 60% of the wholesale price tag. In Italy, to avoid paying taxes on the truffle gross sales (paid out by the vendor), as significantly as 50 % of the crop is marketed on the black marketplace.
The Italian white truffle has not nonetheless been cultivated ( artificially inoculated ) on to any host tree however. So materials are constrained to what can be harvested from all-natural parts. Even thou in the yr 2010, there exactly where reviews indicating that some experts were near to successfully inoculating host trees with the Italian white truffle spore or mycelium. So lets hope that this mystery can be eventually solved and plant much more Italian truffle trees.
Italian white truffles are commercially canned and bottled but the aroma changes in this method. When the truffle is preserved, they are really inferior to the refreshing truffle. Cans and bottles of Italian white truffle may possibly also consist of other morphologically related species these types of as Tuber dryophilum, Tuber borchii (bianchetto) or Tuber maculatum. Italian white truffle oil is widely marketed in upscale delicatessens. Sadly, most of these truffle flavoured olive oils have hardly ever found a truffle. The truffle aroma is typically staying derived from extra substances. Despite the large demand from customers and the higher rates charges, the creation of the Italian white truffle, like the black truffle, has declined around the previous 100 a long time.