Truffle is a marsupial mushroom that forms an underground tuberous fleshy fruiting body. Grows in forests. It is a saprophyte. The mycelium forms threads that wrap around the roots of a nearby tree. The fungus helps the tree obtain additional moisture and protects it from microbial diseases.
Mycelium is durable, provided that it is not destroyed. In a favorable environment, it periodically forms fruiting bodies, which contain spores that contribute to further reproduction. In terrestrial fungi, spores are dispersed by wind and water. And in an underground fungus, reproduction depends on animals that will eat it, digest it and excrete the remains, in which spores will be located.
Truffle mushroom emits a characteristic smell just to attract animals. Not all species are edible. There are varieties of the fungus that exude the "aroma" of rotten herring.
Perigorsky has the greatest value. It is fragrant, black, warty on the outside, reddish black or dark gray on the inside, streaked with a lighter color. It grows in southern France and northern Italy, mainly in beech and oak groves. It is of great industrial importance. No wonder it is called "blackdiamond" and "capricious prince". The French consider the truffle mushroom to be their national product. The photos show it well.
Slightly less valuable is the Trinity truffle, or white Polish. The pulp of its fruiting body is light, outwardly resembles a potato. It grows in forests in western Europe, and is also found in Russia, for example, in the Moscow region.
Truffle mushroom develops and matures underground at a depth of 5 to 20 cm. These mushrooms grow in several pieces side by side, forming a nest. In some cases, part of the fungus is visible from the ground. It can range in size from a hazelnut to a good potato, occasionally there are specimens weighing more than 1 kg.
Somehow in Italy they found a truffle mushroom weighing 720 grams. It was sold at auction for $210,000. This fact confirms the prevailing opinion that this is the most expensive mushroom in the world.
There is evidence that by regularly eating truffle mushroom, you can prolong youth. Unfortunately, it cannot be cultivated, although many attempts have been made to do so.
To find this amazing mushroom, you can resort to the help of a trained pig or dog. Pigs have a natural flair for truffles, but so that they don’t eat the find themselves, they are trained beforehand. For this work, females are selected at the age of 4 months. Having found the truffle mushroom, the pig begins to dig the ground with its hoof, they drive it away, and give some kind of delicacy, for example, boiled beans, as a consolation. Trained pigs work for 10 years or more. Flawthese bloodhounds is that they get tired quickly. A dog can search for a long time, but only poodles are suitable for this job.
There is another way to determine the place where the fungus grows. Worth watching for truffle flies. During sunset, they circle in a swarm above the ground and lay their eggs only near these mushrooms so that the larvae feed on the fruiting bodies. Wherever the swarm sits, you need to dig there.
These amazing mushrooms are used to prepare various dishes for which gourmets are willing to pay any money.
