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Truffle
Truffle describes a group of edible mycorrhizal (subterranean) mushrooms (genus Tuber, class Ascomycetes, division Mycota).
The ascoma (fruiting body) of truffles is considered gourmet food. In 1825 Brillat-Savarin called the truffle "the diamond of the kitchen" and praised its aphrodisiac powers. (Physiology of Taste Meditation vi). True truffles are expensive, because they elude techniques of domestication:
- "The most learned men have sought to ascertain the secret, and fancied they discovered the seed. Their promises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by a harvest. This perhaps is all right, for as one of the great values of truffles is their dearness, perhaps they would be less highly esteemed if they were cheaper.
- "Rejoice, my friend," said I, "a superb lace is about to be manufactured at a very low price."
- "Ah!" replied she, "think you, if it be cheap, that any one would wear it?" (Brillat-Savarin, 1825)
Looking for truffles in open ground is often enhanced by specially trained pigs or dogs. There are various forms of truffles, even within France.
The best truffles of France come from Perigord, and upper Provence. About the month of January they have their highest perfume.In Piedmont mild-flavored white truffles are met with, which are very highly esteemed. Best known are Tuber melanosporum (black truffle) and Tuber magnatum (white truffle), both found in western Europe.
The Romans praised truffles obtained from Greece and especially from Libya, where the coastal climate was less dry in ancient times. Their substance was pale, tinged with rose, and the Libyan truffles were sought for as being far the most delicate and highly perfumed. Then truffles disappeared from European cooking for long ages, until they reappeared in Paris ("a city eminently gourmande and trufflivorous") markets in the 1780s, imported seasonally from truffle grounds, where peasants had long enjoyed their secret. They were so expensive they appeared only at the dinner tables of great nobles —and kept women, Brillat-Savarin noted characteristically. The greatest delicacy was a truffled turkey. "I have wept three times in my life," Rossini admitted. "Once when my first opera failed. Once again, the first time I heard Paganini play the violin. And once when a truffled turkey fell overboard at a boating picnic."
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Truffle is also a confection of chocolate.
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