Winter truffles
| Winter truffles | ||||||||||||
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Fruit bodies of the winter truffle ( Tuber brumale ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Tuber brumale | ||||||||||||
| Vittadini |
The winter truffle ( Tuber brumale ), also known as the nutmeg truffle , is a mushroom from the order of the cup-like mushrooms . The smaller, edible fruiting body, which is ripe from October and grows on the roots of oaks and beeches , is round and black, barked with small warts and has an aromatic odor.
features
Macroscopic features
Compared to most other types of truffle , the fruiting body of the winter truffle is rather smaller with a diameter of one to five centimeters. The skin ( peridia ) is reddish-brown when young and turns black with increasing maturity. Mostly it has clear pits. The matt surface is provided with small, somewhat angular, regular, flat-pyramid-shaped warts with a width of one to three millimeters. They can be easily brushed off by hand. The thin bark is often cracked in larger specimens. The first pale, then black-brown to gray-black fruit mass (gleba) inside is of a firm consistency and initially white, later brown veined.
Microscopic features
The 25 to 42 micrometers long and 17 to 25 micrometers wide, yellow to dark brown spores are elliptical and have spines up to 5 micrometers long. They vary in size depending on the number of spores in the tubes .
Sensory characteristics
The winter truffle smells aromatic like nutmeg , slightly marzipan to spicy and fruity. While the spores are ripe, the fruiting body smells strongly aromatic of sour fruits, but occasionally also heavily musky . Both prepared and raw, the winter truffle tastes pleasantly mild.
Distribution, ecology and phenology
The distribution area of winter truffles extends from Spain to the French regions of Provence , Perigord and Burgundy , northern to central Italy , Hungary , the Balkans and Turkey . It is very rare in Germany, somewhat more common south of the Main Line, and is now considered endangered there .
They are mainly found individually on the roots of oak, beech, hazel and linden . It thrives particularly well in thermophilic locations on calcareous soils and ripens from mid-September, the truffle hunt begins in winter.
meaning
The winter truffle is an excellent spice mushroom , the price is significantly lower than that of the Perigord truffle. When cut into slices, keep it dry until needed. It is also particularly suitable for making truffle oil .
Species delimitation
The Perigord truffle ( Tuber melanosporum ) looks very similar to the winter truffle. Their fruiting body becomes somewhat larger and is purple-black to red-brown. The inside of the fruit mass is first whitish, then marbled reddish-purple-black. When ripe it is marked with two parallel blackish lines. The excellent spice mushroom also grows under oaks and beeches and ripens at the same time, but it does not occur in Germany.
The summer truffle ( Tuber aestivum ) can also be confused with the winter truffle. Their skin is much coarser and the fruit mass is much lighter. With a diameter of up to nine centimeters, the fruiting bodies can also be distinguished by their size. The spores of the summer truffle range from reticulate to honeycomb-shaped.
Web links
- Antonio Rodríguez: Tuber brumale Vittadini. Trufamania, accessed August 14, 2019 .
- Winter truffle. Timm Reymendt, accessed on August 14, 2019 .
- Ernestine Müller: Winter truffle. Radulescu & Uerpmann, accessed on August 14, 2019 .
- Winter truffle, nutmeg truffle. Tuber brumale. Der Tintling, the mushroom newspaper, accessed on August 14, 2019 .
- Winter truffle, black winter truffle, nutmeg truffle. Herta Haimerl, W. Bachmeier, February 7, 2019, accessed on August 14, 2019 .
- Winter truffle (Tuber brumale). Christian Gold, accessed August 14, 2019 .
- Winter truffle (Tuber Brumale). TrüffelGarten Schweiz, accessed on December 19, 2019 .
literature
- René Flammer, T. Flammer: Truffle analysis for food experts . Wittenbach 2011, p. 11 .
- Julius Peter: mushrooms. An identification book . Gutenberg Book Guild, Zurich 1960.
- Carolo Vittadini: Monographia Tuberacearum . Rusconi, Mediolani 1831, p. 37-38 .
