THE TRUFFLE
purchase
conservation
recipes
the history
the science
THE SCIENCE
Recent scientific research has updated the world of truffles with some new discoveries: the identification of mycorrhizative relationships and specific vegetable oils, the verified effect of environmental factors, the chemical origins, the structure of the land where truffles thrive most and further discoveries on a molecular level (DNA), all catalogued in the ‘progetto Tuber’ of the C.N.R. (National research authority).
The scientific studies are related above all to the idea of cultivating truffles, expressed clearly by A. Ciccarelli (1564) through the direct plantation of the fungi.
The idea was revisited later on by other authors (De Borch, 1780; Buillard, 1791; De Bornholz, 1827 and Turpin, 1827), but its unfortunate that none of them could make new, significant advances in the subject.
There have been numerous attempts to cultivate truffles, but none until recently showed any positive results.
These results have been possible solely because of the facility to reproduce the environment and conditions necessary for the plantation of mychorrhizated plants. Mannozzi-Torini, general forest inspector of the region ‘Marche’, frustrated by the scarce results brought to him by Francolini on spontaneous mycorrhization; in 1956 attempts slight modifications for the production of mycorrhizated seeds in large quantities; placing the acorns in a suspension of particles as an aqueous solution with sugar and an earth sample from the region where they are planted.
After a few years it is discovered that the soil must be sterile and finally some Tuberum Melanospsorum is obtained, controlled and legitimized by local experts.
We are in 1969 and plants prepared in this way after a year begin producing the infamous “pianelli”, and after approximately 11-12 years they start producing actual truffles. (Mannozzi- Torini, 1970; 1971; 1984). At the same time that the Mannozzi- Torini experimentations were taking place, within the compounds of the mycological centre of the C.N.R. (national research centre) in Turin, semi sterile plants were used for the plantation of truffles.
This notion radically changed the plantation and cultivation principles available prior to these experiments.
The first successful trials resulted in Tuber Maculatum with Pinus Strobus (Fassi e Fontana, 1967) which after 2-3 years produce small truffle specimen.
