The history and literature of truffles can be traced back to 4,000 years ago when the Sumerians of Mesopotamia recorded truffles on a clay tablet in cuneiform, describing a child dedicating a truffle to the king. Marcus Gavius Apicious, an ancient Roman gourmet, introduced a complex truffle dish in Apicius written in the 1st century AD. To make the dish, first boil truffles in water, then add some salt and roast them slightly in strings. Take another pot to make sauce by boiling some wine, olive oil, pepper, honey, fish sauce and 1/3 concentrated sour grape juice, and then add a little starch to make the sauce thick. Finally, poke holes in the truffles, and soak them in the sauce.
Truffles are domineering plants. In Europe, when truffles begin to grow at the root of an oak, other plants around it within a diameter range of one to two meters in general and sometimes even up to 20 meters will gradually wither and die. After that, the soil is exposed as if the land has been scorched. Because of this, the medieval Europeans thought truffles were the incarnation of the devil, and ignored them for nearly a thousand years. Until today, scientists still have no conclusion on the scorch phenomenon. One explanation is that it is the result of “competition for nutrients” between truffles and the surrounding herbaceous plants.
People around the world have found more than 100 kinds of truffles varying in colors of black, white, purple and yellow, as well as shapes and smells. The most favored are Italian white truffles and French black truffles. White truffles are mainly produced in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Marche and Tuscany, while Perigord, Provence and Burgundy of France are famous black truffle origins. Growing 40cm to 1m underground, Italian white truffles and French black truffles can well preserve the aroma and meanwhile absorb more nutrients, contributing to their varied aromas, which is also the main reason why they are favored by people. In addition, Croatia and Namibia also produce truffles, but the price is much cheaper.
In fact, truffles cannot be “cultivated”. Truffles cannot carry out photosynthesis to make carbohydrates necessary for their growth. They can only obtain nutrients through the roots of the trees having symbiotic relationships with them and these trees can absorb through roots the water and minerals truffles have absorbed from the soil. Therefore, farmers can only plant oaks or pines “infected” with truffles spores, and then wait patiently for five or even ten years until they harvest some truffles or nothing. There are too many unpredictable factors during the growth of truffles. It is impossible to artificially cultivate them, which is why they are so rare and expensive.
Since ancient times, the aroma of truffles has been considered to have an aphrodisiac effect. Athenians used to worship Venus, the Goddess of love, with truffles. Greek doctor Leukada even prescribed truffles as a beneficial medicine for love. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French gourmet of the 19th century, believed that black truffles “can ignite the sweetest and strongest power of joy” and “can make women more gentle and men more amiable”. In fact, from a health point of view, among all the wild fungi, truffles have the highest nutritional value and the most comprehensive nutrients with over 50 kinds of physiological active ingredients, including 18 kinds of amino acids, small molecule proteins, unsaturated fatty acids, sphingolipids, sterols and trace elements. Among them, sphingolipids have attracted much attention in recent years as they have the function of repairing injured neurons, treating diabetes, preventing and treating senile dementia and cardiovascular sclerosis in middle-aged and elderly people, and inhibiting cancer cells.
