About Truffles
CURIOSITIES ABOUT TRUFFLES
The Truffle, intense aroma in gastronomy.
Truffle is an edible fungus that grows underground, with an intense aroma that has great appreciation in haute cuisine and gastronomy. There are more than 30 kinds of truffles, the most known and valued are the black truffle (Tuber Melanosporum) produced in Spain and France mainly. The white truffle (Tuber Magnatum pico) and the summer truffle (Tuber Aestivum).
One of the best ways to take the truffle is fresh, in a simple way, cut into slices or grated into fine powder, and allow a multitude of preparations: with fresh salmon, anchovies, pasta, rice, eggs, cheese, potatoes ... nothing of stews and boiling ... the simplest way to take them is accompanied by bread, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt, and that's not what we say ... Ferran Adriá and Juan Mari Arzak tell in their book "Celebrate the Millennium with Adrià and Arzak".
The contemporary culture of Truffle:
The culture around the truffle undoubtedly corresponds to France and Italy, and the one who most decisively contributed to consecrating its gastronomic value was Brillat-Savarin in his Physiology of Taste or transcendental gastronomy meditations, when he named it "Black diamond of the kitchen".
In Spain the collection of the truffle did not begin to generalize until the decades of the 40s and 60s, when French collectors began to search in the Catalan Pyrenees and from there it spread among the Spanish.
However, this should not detract from the importance the Spanish truffle production, since at present it supposes of the order of 30-40% of the world production.
Truffle hunting: Essence of the earth at the table
The hunt for truffles was previously practiced with wild boar, an animal with a great sense of smell, which allowed detecting truffles with ease. However, its use for collection is not indicated because it is very difficult for the boar not to eat the truffle and cause damage to the land with its characteristic way of making furrows with the snout.
Currently, the collection of the truffle is made with dogs, breeds with great smell and ability to follow the trail. The truffle hunt is pure contact with nature in the middle of winter (the harvesting period is from December to March), enjoying walks between holm oaks and holm oaks, in the company of some amazing animals capable of detecting the truffle and running away in its search...
History of the Truffle
From the Greek classics to Napoleon: a halo of mystery and aphrodisiac powers:
From the Greek and Roman classics, we know about the truffle, granting it aphrodisiac powers:
The philosopher Aristotle
he was referring to the truffle as
"a fruit consecrated to Aphrodite
", and the Roman physician Galeno warned that abuse in their consumption could lead to voluptuousness.
There is no shortage of religious and mystical references
to the truffle: Muhammad, which said that the truffles came from ALMAN (meaning that they came from Allah and were not the fruit of the seed or of the work).
Pope Gregory IV,
Head of the Catholic Church from 827 to 844, the legend tells that he ate truffles to increase his strength in his battles against the Saracens, who invaded Sicily during his papacy.
In the Italian Renaissance,
Lucia Borgia and Catalina de Medici They used the truffle in their banquets as a great attraction to their guests. It is in the year 1554 when the first treatise on the cultivation of the Truffle is written: "Opusculus de tuberis", written by Dr. Alfonso Ciccarelli
In the period of revolutionary France, it is said that Napoleon and the Marquis de Sade
They used them as a sexual stimulant. In addition, the mistress of Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour, fearful of being unable to live up to the king's loving demands, experimented with a diet of vanilla, truffles and celery, designed to "warm the blood".
In the XIX century, Georges Sand,
famous French writer defending the rights of women to free love, wrote: "The truffle is the magic black apple of love"