Truffles IV - Look-Alikes

Besides true truffles, numerous mushroom species fructify below ground, sheltered from bad weather, where they develop strong perfumes. Mushrooms of this type –hypogea– have all adopted a similar survival strategy, and thus resemble each other even when they are genetically very different. In this way true truffles can be easily confused with other less pricey hypogea.

Tradition has it that the manna that saved Moses and his people from famine was none other than the ‘desert truffle’, a semi-arid zone hypogea species found around the Meditteranean and as far as China and South Africa. In local languages it is called turma (Spanish), kama (Arabic), kmehin (Hebrew), terfezia, tirmania, truffles of the Kalahari.

According to popular tradition, the emergence of these ‘truffles’ is initiated by the first rains of spring. This is exactly what the Greek author Plutarch postulated more than two thousand years ago, convinced that the mushrooms bloomed when lightning hit the ground.

In his work on North American truffles, the American specialist Trappe lists ninety species, only ten of which are ‘real truffles’. The famed Northern Oregon ‘truffle’ (Leucangium carthusianum) for instance, does not qualify for the title : fairly rare, this species grows under Douglas fir trees on the Oregonian coast. This intensely aromatic mushroom features a pleasant fruity taste, quite similar to pineapples; it lends itself wonderfully to dessert.

Québec’s deer ‘truffle’ (Elaphomyces muricatus) doesn’t even have this culinary distinction: it is inedible to humans, but certain rodents find it delicious.

In effect, underground mushroom species, even those that are genetically very similar, emit dissimilar odors. This differenciation serves to highlight the degree to which environmental conditions and evolutionary adaptations, rather than genetic affiliation, affect mushroom flavour, if not relative market prices.