White Truffle
(Tuber Magnatum Pico): very rare and fine. The production area includes the Upper Tiber Valley, Eugubino Gualdese, and the area of Orvieto. It ripens from October to December; however, in areas particularly sheltered from intense cold, it can be found until the end of January. It vegetates deeper than other truffles. It prefers the relationship with plants like poplars and willows, although it also lives in symbiosis with several other plants like oaks, Turkey oaks, and hornbeams, and prefers the cool ditches, the wooded river bends, the innermost and deeper slopes of the gullied hills. The white truffle has many unique features: its unmistakable piercing smell, a sign of good ripening and good quality; its size and shape, which must be as regular and rounded as possible; the unique taste expressing at its best when it is raw, without sauces nor flavoring. Its size can vary from a small walnut to a big orange. It is round with knots or surfacing horns. According to the degree of ripening, its pulp color goes from hazelnut to dark brown. Sometimes, when it lives in symbiosis with a lime tree or a oak, it is pink, almost winy red. The pulp is crossed by several thin and white snake-shaped streaks (mycelium bundles). The white truffle is served cut into very thin slices. Given its intense fragrance, it is ideal with simple and hot dishes enhancing its aroma.
Black summer truffle (Tuber aestivum): this truffle ripens in August; it is a less famous, but not a less tasty truffle.
