What Is the Truffle?
Truffle is the common name used to identify the fruiting bodies (sporocarps) of fungi whose entire life cycle is spent underground (hypogean). They must live in symbiosis with trees in order to produce the precious sporocarp.
They belong to the Tuber genus, and are formed by an outer wall called the peridium - which can be smooth or textured, and may vary in colour from light to dark - and by internal issue called the gleba, which can range in colour from black to brown and from pink to white. The spores are contained in large cells known as asci, which are themselves encapsulated in sacs encircled by ramified veins running through the gleba.
The various species of truffle differ in the morphological properties of their peridium, gleba, asci and spores, as well as in their size and tasting qualities.
