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Truffles: a flavor valued greater than gold Buried Treasures
[Rocco Barisci]
But what are truffles? Truffles are flavorful fungi that grow entirely underground and cannot be cultivated, but must be picked in the places where they grow spontaneously thanks to a suitable mix of soil and vegetation. Truffles look like a globe-shaped
tuber, whose surface can be wrinkled or smooth. They grow in symbioses with trees and shrubs and can be found especially in oak, pine or willow woods.
Not all the species of truffles (about twenty-five different can be found in Italy) are prized, but the variety of Tuscan environments allows the growth of all the edible kinds. The main varieties are tartufo bianco (white truffle), tartufo nero (black truffle), tartufo marzuolo (march truffle) and scorzone (summer black truffle). Of course the hardest to find are also the most prized, and some varities are worth their weight in gold: this is why the white truffle is sometimes also referred to as white diamond. To make things even more difficult, truffles can only be located by following their smell with the help of specially trained dogs.
But the place where it is by far easiest to find truffles for ordinary people like you and me is on a restaurant menu, where they are employed to enhance a variety of dishes thanks to its versatility. Dishes prepared with truffles are called al tartufo.They are served raw, in thin blades, on warm foods and light sauces. They are perfect on fondue, with pasta and risotto, on raw meat (carpaccio), or simply on fried eggs or pizza.
Finally, a curiosity: the largest specimen of white truffle in the world was found in 1954 in the district of San Miniato (Pisa) in a village called Balconevisi. It weighed 2,520 grams and was donated to the U.S. President, Dwight Eisenhower.
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