Products - Truffle Products
Truffle
Its ugly appearance is injustice. We are talking about TRUFFLE, which, despite the repellent aspect, has some well kept nutritional secrets.
Usually, sniffer dogs, are employed to find the truffle. Then hoeing tools are used with special attention to its exit from the subsoil, without be damaged roots. You will wonder what is this so fine "thing" that we present. It is... a mushroom! But not any mushroom. It is the truffle fungus. A relatively rare underground mushroom, which coexist and grow on the roots of certain species of trees or shrubs, in a depth of about 6-15 cm from the ground. It belongs to the genus Tuber (Ascomycetes) and Terfezia, has tuber shape, usually 2-7 cm size and dark gray to pale white color.
It consists mostly of water and minerals absorbed from the soil through the tree which co-exists with and takes its characteristics (color, taste and aroma). Finally, the shape depends on the type of soil.
The culinary and nutritional value of truffle, as well as its fragrance and taste that gives to the food make it unique and sought after worldwide.
Apart from fresh, we find truffle in jars with water or oil, with butter, honey, vinegar and salt, as paste, alone or together with other mushrooms and herbs, canned, etc.
The truffle, even in small quantities, transforms a simple recipe into a unique pleasure. It is mainly used for cooking hunt, poultry and beef, in pasta sauce, rice, as well as raw, grated or finely over food.
The culinary and nutritional value of truffle, makes it one of the most sought after delicacies worldwide.
It contains high quality protein and amino acid, enough fiber, minerals and trace elements (such as iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, copper, zinc), and vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B12, D). They also attributed therapeutic effects in muscle and arthritic pain (due to potassium), and high cholesterol levels (due pantothenic acid).
Finally it is known primarily for its powerful aphrodisiac properties.
Scarcity and aroma imparting a special aphrodisiac value, and according to different traditions, truffle consumption on the man at his wedding, considered a good "asset" for the achievement of marital duties.
According to initial reports (17-16 cent. BC) the Sumerians used truffle in combination with legumes and cereals, while in ancient Greece, it was believed that truffle resulted from the lightning of Zeus to earth.
Tuber Magnatum Pico
The truffle is considered of excellent quality and has high commercial value. It is found in places like Italy, France. It is a sphere with many cracks that give erratic form. The surface is smooth and velvety. The color varies from patient to what ocher dark beige and green light. The aroma is pleasant flavor, but different from the scent of other varieties of truffle. The white truffle lives in symbiosis with the oak and linden, poplar and willow. Soil should be fluffy and moist during the longer period of the year. Be rich in calcium and have good ventilation. The harvest of the white truffle is from September to December. The land is suitable for development should have ph greater than 7.5 to be porous and have good ventilation.
The species of Truffle
Tuber Uncinatum
Aroma pleasant and relatively strong. Flavor reminiscent of hazelnut. Superior quality vermicelli in relation to T. Aestivum. The maturation of fruiting begins in June and if the July rains are inadequate, the truffles are dehydrated and do not mature. The best truffles are those that ripen in October, November and December. It can be harvested until February. They appear in a few centimeters from the surface, rarely even under layers of fallen leaves, making it very easy to identify. He wants more calcareous soils, rich in organic matter, pH 7 to 7.8 and an altitude of up to 1200 to 1300 meters. We need increased soil moisture and shady soils, therefore it is proposed and the northern exposure, without very dry and hot summers and high humidity in April-May. It is found from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, from the Atlantic to Russia. Italy appears mainly in the highlands and mountains of central Italy and in other areas. T.Magnatum requires fertile soils and sufficient macro and micronutrients and pH = 7,2-8,0. Also need soils that receive sufficient rainfall and have high soil moisture even in summer, moderately permeable to 0- altitude of 1000 meters. It is acknowledged that variety requires spring rains. The average air temperature can be lowered a few degrees below zero, and in July reached the maximum at 23 to 24 ° C. This variety is the most elite and expensive, but producers should not be encouraged to plant large areas of this truffle, only tentatively. It is the most sensitive variety truffle both in competition with other various forms is and the need to have excellent conditions for its development. In many plantations it has been found that over time greatly reduces the production and in many cases installed by T. borchii, which is true of white truffle, but much lower quality and lower commercial value.
Tuber Mesentericum
It has a very strong odor especially like the smell of tar. The smell is maintained and after heat processing in cooking. The truffle has fanatics and fanatical opponents. In France it occurs rarely in forests. The size varies around the size of a walnut and rarely reaches the size of hen egg. The shape is rounded or irregular and exhibits a dip more or less obvious. The skin color is very black and has external protuberances. These lumps are small (2-4mm wide), very tight, sharp or flattened top. The skin is strongly attached to the flesh. The flesh resists the pressure of the fingers and fleshy. At first is white, then becomes dark gray and then dark brown as chocolate. The veins are white, clearly distinguishable creating the shape of the labyrinth and their color is unchanged in contact with ambient air. The odor is strong and resembles the odor of the bitumen or phenol with an iodine odor timbre disappears shortly after the extraction of the ground. The taste is relatively pleasant and sometimes resembles the almond flavor. The number of spores of the pouches averages 5. The spores have colored ellipsoidal shape as a bright yellowish dark.Their dimensions are 20m X 15m.
Tuber Melanosporum
Usually diameter 5.8 m., But can be greater. Weight from a few grams to 40 to 150 g.Sometimes 200- 300 g, rarely can reach 600. The aroma is pleasant and delicate, sometimes intense and keeps even after cooking, with a characteristic and excellent flavor. It ripens from mid-November to the end of March and is formed at a depth of about 5-35 cm. It grows in barren, inaccessible lands that are not performing other crops.Wants alkaline soils (pH 7.2-8.2), increased porosity, with good drainage and enough skeletal material. Perfect considered the chalky clay, light sandy soils, and the white light argiloasvestodi .. The melanospori requires the months April-May many rains and soil temperature 5-10oC thoroughly 10-15ek. These conditions determine the best growth of the mycelium of the truffle and promote their fruition. In summer, frequent rains are not favorable because much lower soil temperature, which should be 25 ° C to continue the development of fruitful. The soil moisture must be maintained with rain every 20 days. Septemvrio- the months of October to increase the weight of truffle, the ground is necessary to be liquid, but the moisture contained is excessive. Reducing the temperature finally autumn is essential for the maturation of truffle. The variety melanospori is not very efficient in areas with very intense cold in winter and extreme heat in summer. Extreme heat and drought in summer can damage the truffles in their infancy. The truffle that grows in areas of Boron hemisphere of latitude 40th to 46th. In nature it is in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Dalmatia, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey and Sardinia. There are remarkable plantations in Yugoslavia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Israel and the US Oregon.
Tuber Brumale
The size of fruitful ranging from 1m up to 4-7 cm and a maximum weight of 30-100gr. It has a very delicate flavor, pleasant, reminiscent of wood from Cornus sanguinea. It looks like melanospori, but because the aroma is so intense commercial value is smaller. It ripens in mid-November to late March. He lives in the same grounds with the T.melanosporum but do well in areas with little calcium, more coherent, less rich in gravel and clay drier during the summer, richer in organic matter or it rains more often.Fruiting appear thoroughly 5- 30cm. He lives in soils same as melanospori but richer in organic matter. It can grow in soil more clayey and less permeable, more dry during the summer, in areas still endemic and aestivum. It grows at an altitude of 200- 1000 meters and prefers warm reports. In nature it is found in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary and England. Best symbiosis is with hazel and downy oak, but also with Quercus cerris (Roupaki), Quercus ilex (holm oak), Carpino nigra (hornbeam), Fagus sylvatica (beech). Usually inoculated in double inoculation with the melanospori. T. aestivum has a diameter of 1-14ek., Weighing up to 500g. In some instances it may be up to 1 kg. The aroma is light and delicate when it is fresh, but generally characterized subdued and reminds boiled corn or dough beer. But truffles harvested before the summer is not mature and degraded quality. The best are those collected in Septemvrio- October, when the temperature begins to drop. He wants calcareous soils with plenty of gravel, but resists and loamy soils. The truffles appear in a few centimeters below the surface, and sometimes completely surface between the land slots. It grows from 0 to 800-900 meters altitude. It is more versatile than the melanospori and appears in various territories.
Tuber Borchii
Adaptable to many soils, but prefers soils that drain well and even those that are quite dry during the summer. often appears in crops other truffle varieties, especially T. Magnatum, and acts in competition with them. Prefers pH 7.5; 8.0, withstand volcanic soils, very sandy, poor in clay, high water permeability and reacts much better than other truffles when lower pH soils artificially improved by adding gypsum.
Tuber Aestivum
The (summer black) is the most resistant variety, proposed to be planted in areas of the field or in places that are more arid, hot and dry, or where the pH and the other elements are not in optimal proportions. It can be grown even in rain-fed farmland, but in case of severe drought in ascocarp stops growing is not mature, the flesh is whitish and the aroma is lost. It can be found under isolated trees in clearings beneath broadleaves or conifers without much leaf density. Prefers iliazomenes reports. They are less demanding with regard to moisture. Coexists well with: Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine), Quercus pubescens (downy oak), Quercus ilex (holm oak). The Carpinus nigra (hornbeam), Corylus avellana (Hazel), Quercus cerris (Roupaki, Tilia cordata (linden) is mediocre players. In nature there is in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Spain. South England and southeastern France, Germany, Serbia, Greece , Hungary and Turkey.