Italy Fun Fact #2 - Tartufi

Italian Truffles
In the world of gourmet foods, there is one treasure that is literally and figuratively worth its weight in gold. Truffles, especially the highly sought after white variety are the pinnacle of gourmet, usually too expensive for most consumers, except in parts of Northern Italy and Umbria where Tartufi are a key ingredient in local dishes. In this way truffles live a double life: outrageously expensive and used in the highest of high cuisine, and yet harvested in a time-honored tradition that has little to do with gourmet sophistication. In Piedmonte and Umbria, the hearts of truffle country, harvest season is a time of celebration for both truffle harvesters (trifolau) and the towns that host the ever-popular truffle festivals. A visit to this region in autumn will reward the traveler with culinary gold in the form of numerous regional specialties graced with freshly shaved truffles, harvested the previous night or that very morning.

It was once believed that truffles grew in spots where lightening struck, however there is a much more scientific explanation for their existence. All types of truffles are related to mushrooms and are known as hypogenous fungi. Like mushrooms, truffles have a system of root-like structures but unlike mushrooms, truffles never emerge from the surface. Instead truffles are formed below the soil close to a tree's root systems and similar to how Porcini mushrooms live off a nearby tree's nutrients, truffles are the "fruit" of another fungus/tree relationship. The truffle could be considered a parasite, since it is not known if the tree receives any benefits from this relationship. The fungus that makes truffles can only survive in certain soil conditions such as those created in stands of oak, willow and linden trees. Once attached to a root, the fungus will produce one truffle per year, with each type of tree lending a distinctive aroma and flavor to the truffle.

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