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Food Categories
The Tartufo (Truffle)
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Looking through the literature about tartufo, or "trifole" one is immediatly caught up in the contradictions. "Food of the Gods," said Giovenale, "Source of dangerous overheating," warned Galeno. Son of the autumn humidity, for Teofrasto the tartufo possessed antirhumatic properties "stolen from the rain" whereas Pliny the Elder, along with Plutarch, considered it a callus of calcium of the earth, a kind of stone!
Brillat de Savarin, legendary food writer, called it the "Diamond of the table," illuminating its taste and unknowingly prophesying the competition that the precious tuber, not at al regal in appearance, would give real diamonds. "Sublime 'trifola', magic 'trifola', you take your arcane powers that give the strength to heal the fever of love." For thousands of years the legend has spoken of the aphrodisiac powers of the tartufo. A bit later Avicenna and Discoride were convinced, and the Frenchman Prunier de Longchamps in an essay advised nuns and priests to avoid it. Popular belief has it that the son of Napoleon and Maria Luisa was conceived after a banquet based on tartufo, and that the Sun King refreshed himself with tartufo consomme` between one amatorial exploit and another.
Ridiculous? Not at all. Recently a group of German fisiologists discovered that tartufo contains a phremone produced by animals before mating. But it must still established if this substance is the same in humans. In botanical terms, what is the tartufo, that excites gourmets all over the world and holds a post of honor in gastronomic manuals?
It's a mushroom, whose underground life classifies it as belonging to the family of the tuber. There are various varieties, but the three principal types considered by gastronomes are "Tuber Magnatum Pico", the white tartufo from Alba (near Turin), "Tuber melanosporum", or black tartufo from Norcia and the French district of Perigord, and the off-white "Tuber Albinum" slightly less tasty than the others.
The reason for the tartufo's rarity is that it does not grow everywhere. The white tartufo, for exemple, grows only in the Langhe, Valpadana and small zones of Tuscany, the Marche, and Umbria. It grows in simbiosis with the roots of the willow, the oak, poplar, and linden trees, and reaches maturity from October to December. The record for the biggest tartufo was reached in 1951 with a white tartufo weighing two kilos and three hundred grams.
The black tartufo is more easily grown, in forests with calcium-rich ground, favoring a non-acid humus. Its home is that of the oaks, ilex, and turkey oaks. The aromas of the black and white tartufo contrast, with the French definitely favoring the black. The art of finding the tartufo ("trivolau") is handed down from father to son. The most able identify the fertile ground by the color and undulation, but above all by clever dogs as the tartufo grows several centimeters underground. Young dogs learn better, and there is no special breed. The secret is in the training, and of course the dog must not even scratch the precious tuber. Some dogs are worth as much as $5,000.
The white tartufo is the most prized, with prices rising each year. There has been some success with cultivation, with the first white tartufo produced "artificially" in 1983. White tartufo is eaten raw, a final touch to simple dishes such as risotto, filet of beef, and even scrambled eggs.
Francesca Sachetti
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