Many epithets have been referred to this precious mushroom: “Food of the gods”, “Mozart of mushrooms” and “Diamond of the kitchen”, as Anthelme Brillant-Savarin defined it in the book “Physiology of taste”.
The truffle has always been present on men’s tables even if in more or less appreciable forms from a culinary point of view.
But where does her love story with man originate from?
The truffle was already known in ancient times, and the theories that developed at the time about its formation are rather curious: it seems that Jupiter, seized by a fit of anger, hurled lightning at the earth, hitting an old oak which generated between its roots the first truffle.
This story certainly presents some truths already evident at the time, first of all the attribution of aphrodisiac properties to the mushroom, but also the connection between it and storms, as well as the need to grow together with trees!
Even Pliny the Elder mentions it in the “Naturalis historia”, as a precious mushroom that arises from the combined action of water, heat and lightning.
“(…) it is among those things that are born, but cannot be sown: just like gold and diamond”.
Plinio il Vecchio
Juvenal talks about it in his Satires (100 AD) referring to the Libyan origin of some truffles, today considered of no nutritional interest, the terfezie, writes about it:
“Then if in spring the much-invoked storms have made the dinners more sumptuous, here are the truffles, keep the Libya wheat, take the oxen off the plow but send us your truffles!” .
Giovenale
From the Middle Ages to the emperors’ table
In medieval times it was part of the nourishment of pigs and of the diet of poor people, as it was collected in abundance during the plowing of the fields, and used in the preparation of long-cooked stews, to flavor broths and soups or perhaps boiled like potatoes (recipes that we do NOT recommend!) and for this reason defined as “stinky potatoes” (in fact we do not recommend them!).
The truffle was valorised only starting from the Renaissance, when it began to take a place of honor on the tables set by European diners, so much so that a real dedicated book was written: “Opusculum de tuberibus”, printed in Padua in 1564 and considered the first mycology book on black truffles, even if it has no scientific relevance.
Finally, the doctor Durante from Gualdo at the end of the 1500s talks about it in the “Treasure of Health”, a collection of information and medical indications, written with the aim of prolonging life and preserving health.
“BENEFITS: they are eaten raw and cooked, sweet in taste, because they have the smell of meat, they excite the venereal appetites and multiply the sperm, they generate great nourishment, but not bad… putting the truffles in the boxes gives the clothes a pleasant smell “
“NOCUMENTS: they are windy, melancholic and hostile to the nerves, to the head and the stomach they make me sad and, if used often, generate apoplexy and paralysis and are difficult to digest.”
Durante da Gualdo
But don’t worry about these assessments, it should be considered that the eating habits and unhealthy lifestyle of the time may have created a certain difficulty and confusion in precisely attributing these benefits and harms to the truffle!
Finally, it seems that Napoleon was also fond of it and never missed it during his meals, and like him for Giuseppe Verdi!
This is how the truffle earned its well-known fame, becoming a prized food on important international tables and often being responsible for the good fortunes of alliances and agreements between states!