White Truffle
Definition
The white truffle (scientific name: Tuber magnatum Pico) is a "fungus" entirely developing underground. The sporocarp is characterized by a pale yellow color sometimes tending to ochre/beige, with red-brown spots. It has a round shape, a smooth or finely grainy surface; its diameter goes from 2 to 8 cm, and is very irregular, with depressions in the surface, and slightly velvety.
The gleba, characterized by very branched stripes, has a color varying from milky white to intense pink with brown nuances. The scent is intense, pleasantly aromatic, resembling garlic or cheese gone bad, very strong and persistent.
The spores are egg-shaped, webbed and with big alveoli. The size of the spores are 32-45 x 30-40 micron.
The white truffle forms symbiotic relationships with oaks, poplars, willows, lime trees, as well as elms, hornbeams, birches, alders, hazelnut and chestnut trees.
The white truffle is the biggest existing truffle and can reach the size of a big apple. Every year it is possible to pick some specimens also weighing more than 1 kilo. The intense scent and the pleasant taste of the white truffle make it the most valuable among truffles. White truffles can be found only in late summer, in autumn, and in early winter. In particularly wet grounds it is possible to find them also during the summer.
The quantity of collected truffles is constantly reducing because of the measures including the cut of the plants under which they grow, the compression of the ground given to poor aeration, the indiscriminate truffle collection, the influence of acid rain, the climatic conditions with high temperatures and scarce rainfall, the influence of the atmospheric polluting agents.
The white truffle of Piedmont or of Alba (Tuber magnatum Pico) must not be mistaken with Tuber borchii or album, which is white too, but with no taste nor value, although edible. Also Choiromyces meandriformis looks like Tuber magnatum Pico: it is whitish and characterized by purging effects.
The bouquet of scents of the white truffle of Piedmont, particularly intense, and its pleasant taste, make it the most precious and valuable existing truffle.
- Production Area: The production area of the white truffle in Piedmont is concentrated above all in the Langhe, in Monferrato, and in Roero, but also some areas of Alessandria and hills of Turin are characterized by its presence. In the latter, it can be found in particular in Andezeno, Baldissero Torinese, Cinzano, Chieri, Marentino, Montaldo Torinese, Pavarolo, Pecetto Torinese, Pino Torinese, Rivalba, and Sciolze.
- Legislative Protection: The White Truffle is classified among the "Traditional Agri-foodstuffs of Regione Piemonte", according to art. 8 of the Legislative Decree 30th April 1998, n. 173 and the Annex to the Decisions of the Regional Council 15th April 2002 n. 46-5823.
