Spring White Truffle

The white spring truffle truffle, scientific name Tuber Borchii.  By the outside can be confused with Tuber Magnatum, because it originally presents the same features, irregular, smooth and of white color, but when it arrives to maturation, it becomes darker. Even the glebe, from initially being clear, becomes dark. The smell is the feature that distinguishes it from the white truffle, because, if  in the beginning it is soft and pleasant, in a later time becomes garlicky and nauseous. It grows in calcareous soils, often in deciduous and coniferous woods.

• Peridium: smooth, light colored, varying from white-ocher to reddish.

• Glebe: clear tending to tawny to brown, with white large veins and few in number.

• Shape: variable, tending to round if the truffle has grown in sandy soils, sometimes irregular, with gibbous surface.

• Size: The average size of this truffle is rather small, such as a nut or a little bigger, but it can reach up to the size of a hen’s egg.

• Maturation period: from January to April.

• The spring white truffle in the kitchen: the firm scent, with garlic tones, and the strong and durable flavor, are rendering it a suitable condiment for various dishes, provided  that, just like the white fine truffle, it is not left for prolonged cooking.

• How to recognize it: by the smooth peridium, by the light colors or reddish, by the small size, by the smell of garlic, by the late time of maturation which is winter-