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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The name “truffle” is attributed to the fruit (similar to a tuber) of underground fungi of the
ascomycetes class, which live in mycorrhizic symbiosis with specific trees. The Tuber genus
has several species and in Abruzzo the most important, in descending order, are:
A) Tuber Melanosporum (prized black truffle)
- Size: from as small as a walnut to as large as an orange;
- Shape: rounded;
- Peridium: brown, tending to ebony black, with rust markings;
- Gleba: at time of formation it is white, turning black-purple when ripe;
- Scent: aromatic, delicate and very pleasant;
- Flavour: exquisite, withstands cooking;
- Gastronomic value: excellent as very tasty and easy to digest;
- Ripening: mid-November to mid-March;
- Terrain: calcareous-gravelly, permeable. Develops at about 5-10 and 25-30cm below
ground;
- Altitude: 400-1000 metres asl;
- Symbiont plants: oak, hornbeam, hazelnut, occasionally poplars and some pines.
B) Tuber Magnatum (prized white truffle)
- Size: it is the biggest comestible truffle;
- Shape: usually irregular and lobed;
- Peridium: more or less smooth;
- Gleba: from white to hazelnut, pinkish, brown, bright red, depending on the ripeness
and symbiont plant, with fine sinuous veins;
- Scent: very strong and pleasant;
- Flavour: less delicate than the prized black;
- Gastronomic value: tender and digestible, usually eaten raw;
- Ripening: from October to December;
- Terrain: marly-clay and marly-sandy, often along riverbanks;
- Altitude: 200-600m asl;
- Symbiont plants: poplar, willow, oak, linden, etc.
C) Tuber Brumale (winter or Muscat truffle)
- Size: from that of a hazelnut to a chicken egg;
- Shape: roundish but often irregular;
- Peridium: purple-tinged red before ripening, black or dark brown when ripe;
- Gleba: grey-brownish with less fine and scanter veining than T. Melanosporum;
- Scent: not so strong as T. Melanosporum, but pleasing nonetheless;
- Gastronomic value: less digestible than T. Melanosporum so not quite as prized, with
which it often confused;
- Ripening: January-end of March;
- Terrain: often found in the same areas as T. Melanosporum;
- Altitude: same as T. Melanosporum;
- Symbiont plants: oak, beech, hornbeam, hazelnut.
D) Tuber Aestivum (the summer truffle or “Scorzone”)
- Size: from as small as an egg to as large as an orange;
- Shape: irregular and rounded;
- Peridium: brown-blackish, with big, tall verrucas;
- Gleba: hazelnut that darkens when ripening, with many white veins;
- Scent: weak, mushroomy;
- Flavour: modest;
- Gastronomic value: comestible but less prized than the T. Brumale;
- Ripening: May-autumn;
- Terrain: always calcareous and with a wide distribution area;
together with many ways of using and transforming it. In more recent years,
much of Abruzzo’s production has been acquired by transformation businesses
outside the region and marketed worldwide under different brand
names.
Truffles are picked with the use of a truffle hound, specially trained to sniff
them out, but in the past sows were also used as they are more resistant
and less distracted than dogs by other odours left by wildfowl.
Nevertheless, the sow is difficult to control and caused damage to the truf-
- Symbiont plants: oak, hornbeam, hazelnut, etc.
Chemical composition of fresh truffles:
Water 72.8%; Nitrogen-based substances 8.6%; Fats 0.62%; Non-nitrogenous extract
8.1%; Woody fibres 5.75%; Ashes 2.31%.
PROCESSING AND CONSERVATION METHODS
Regulations covering the picking, growing and sale of truffles are included in the national
framework law no. 752, 16.12.1985, and in the Region of Abruzzo by Regional Law
no. 22, 16.02.1988 and subsequent integrations.
Over recent years natural truffle grounds have been flanked by artificial truffle installations
set up with typical forest species (durmast, ilex, turkey oak, hazelnut, hornbeam,
etc) previously mycorrhized by specialist nurseries with various types of truffle. These
nurseries adopt special inoculation techniques and are now able to provide seedlings
with a good mycorrhization level that offers assurances of production success.
Following requests for mycorrhized seedlings that have emerged over the years, Abruzzo
Regional Council, in line with recent EU regulations applied to forestation, has set up a
regional nursery in L’Aquila, managed by the State Forestry Department, to produce forest
trees mycorrhized with the most popular truffles.
In the past, preservation of truffles in Abruzzo was actually only at domestic level, since
the product not consumed fresh was, and still is, collected by agents who supply large
companies specialised in processing and selling the product worldwide. A number of
craft industries have begun to emerge in Abruzzo also, processing and preserving the
prized tuber, and this has brought valorisation not only of the product, but also of several
derivates (truffle-flavoured oil, truffle-flavoured pasta, truffle-flavoured cheese etc).
Domestic preservation begins with careful brushing of the picked tubers to eliminate
any soil followed by bain marie, butter, brine storage. These systems, in any case, will
allow a very limited preservation.
Materials, specific equipment used in preparation and conditioning
Minimum requisites for technical and general plants
• Water: only drinking water is allowed for all work, cleaning and sanitization operations
for materials that come into contact with food products, as well as transformation
and conditioning premises.
• Electrical system: must be compliant with the most recent workplace safety regulations.
• Lighting: must provide a level of artificial lighting that allows working and inspection
operations to be performed correctly.
Description of processing, conservation and ripening premises
Minimum requisites for processing premises
1. Slip-proof flooring in materials resistant to acids:
- Epoxy resins for entire surface;
- Stoneware or clinker flooring with 1cm epoxy resin grouting.
2. Walls with washable and acid-resistant finishes:
- Epoxy resins;
- Ceramic tiles.
3. Water drainage system for cleaning plant must be acid and heat resistant (interred or
cement-covered channelling may be in plastic materials normally used for building
purposes, but fitted with rat-proof basins and gratings).
4. Large windows to provide good lighting and ventilation of premises. These windows
should have insect shields.
5. Adjacent toilet facilities: bathroom and cloakroom with washbasins fitted with pedal
or elbow-operated taps.
6. Premises must have water interception points for washing equipment.
fle area, so several regions, including Abruzzo, prohibit the use of pigs for
truffle harvesting. Over the years a retriever called a “Lagotto” has emerged
as the quintessential truffle hound as it is docile, tireless and will ignore
wildfowl traces
Recently a growing interest in truffles at regional level, also testified by the
increasing numbers of pickers, has encouraged ARSSA to realize fields of
truffle species, with the intention of providing information for the cultivation
of this precious mushroom.
NATURAL OR TRANSFORMED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS 239