Truffles
Summer Truffle:
The summer truffle gives off a light fragrance, with a pleasant and delicate flavor. The gleba (flesh/inside) ranges from beige to hazelnut. The flavor, size, and color of summer truffles is similar to that of burgundy truffles (Uncinatum), but their aroma is less intense and the gleba (flesh) is a paler hazel color.
Autumn Truffle:
It is outwardly very similar to the summer truffle and genetically the same species. On the other hand, the gleba (the flesh/inside of the truffle) is different, displaying a deeper brown color with numerous very marked white veins. The autumn or Burgundy truffle, tends to be a bit more pungent than the summer (aestivum) truffle.
White Truffle:
The King of all Mushrooms. This wild species has never been successfully cultivated, part of the reason they are so rare and expensive. Their shape will depend on the soil. If the soil is soft, the truffle will be smoother and rounder; if the soil is more solid, the truffle will be knotty and pimply. The gleba (flesh) is usually hazelnut, with a slight pinkish reflection. The smell it gives off is intense, garlicky, cheesy, and earthy. White truffle is never cooked, but simply shaved over a dish.
The most prestigious of the black truffles, and second to only the White truffle (Magnatum Pico) in culinary value. It lacks the garlicky and parmesan-cheese notes of the white truffle, but in return offers earthy, musty, nutty, and even chocolaty aroma and flavor. The Tuber Melanosporum Vitt is known in Italy as the “Truffle from Norcia”. The French refer to this same delicacy as the “Truffle de Perigord.”