{{Short description|Species of edible fungus}} {{Speciesbox |image = Truffle washed and cut.jpg |image_caption = White truffle washed and cut |genus = Tuber | species = magnatum | authority = Picco, 1788 | synonyms = }} {{mycomorphbox | name = | hymeniumType = gleba | capShape = no | whichGills = NA | stipeCharacter = NA | sporePrintColor = | ecologicalType = mycorrhizal | howEdible = choice }} '''''Tuber magnatum''''',<ref>Pico (1788) ''Meleth. bot.'' '''79'''.</ref> the '''white truffle''' (Italian: {{lang|it|tartufo bianco d'Alba}}), is a species of truffle in the order Pezizales and family Tuberaceae. It is mainly found in Italy, but also in other parts of Southern Europe, as well as Thailand.

==Description== Fruiting in autumn, they can reach {{convert|12|cm|abbr=off|frac=2}} diameter and {{convert|500|g|abbr=off}}, though are usually much smaller. The flesh is pale cream or brown with white marbling.<ref name="Carluccio03">{{cite book |author1-last=Carluccio |author1-first=Antonio |title=The Complete Mushroom Book |publisher=Quadrille |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-84400-040-1 |author1-link=Antonio Carluccio}}</ref>

== Distribution == It is found mainly in the Langhe and Montferrat areas<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/truffle.asp |title=White truffles from Alba |publisher=Lifeinitaly.com |access-date=2012-06-16}}</ref> of the Piedmont region in northern Italy and, most famously, in the countryside around the cities of Alba and Asti.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.savoryadventures.com/piemonte/wine-and-truffles-adventure-piemonte.html |title=Wine and Truffles Adventure - Piemonte |publisher=Savoryadventures.com |access-date=2012-06-16 |archive-date=2017-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904200945/http://www.savoryadventures.com/piemonte/wine-and-truffles-adventure-piemonte.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Acqualagna, in the northern part of the Marche near Urbino is another center for the production and commercialization of white truffles, and its annual festival is one of the most important in Italy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deliciousitaly.com/le-marche-food/acqualagna-truffle-town|title=Acqualagna Truffle Town}}</ref> They can also be found in Molise, Abruzzo and in the hills around San Miniato, in Tuscany.<ref name="cestina2012">{{cite web |author=Čeština |url=http://gastro.croatia.hr/Gastronomija/Regije/Jelo.aspx?idRegion=6&idMeal=45 |title=Gastro.croatia.hr |publisher=Gastro.croatia.hr |access-date=2012-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120094058/http://gastro.croatia.hr/Gastronomija/Regije/Jelo.aspx?idRegion=6&idMeal=45 |archive-date=2008-01-20 }}</ref>

White truffles have also been found in Croatia (Istria, Motovun forest along the Mirna river<ref name="cestina2012"/>), in the Ticino and Geneva cantons of Switzerland, in south-east France, in Sicily, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia (along the Dragonja and Rizana river<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slovenia.si/visit/cuisine/modern-culinary-trends/istrias-gold-truffles-of-the-slovenian-istria-are-the-best-in-the-world/ |title= istrias gold truffles of the slovenian istria are the best in the world |access-date=2013-10-16}}</ref>), Greece, and in Thailand.<ref>Graziosi ''& al.'' 2022 (bibliography)</ref><ref>Nakarin Suwannarach, Jaturong Kumla, Jomkwan Meerak & Saisamorn Lumyong. "Tuber magnatum in Thailand, a first report from Asia" (PDF), ''Mycotaxon'', vol. 132, p. 635–642, July–September 2017</ref><ref>Jun Niimi, Auréelie Deveau & Richard Splivallo. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349117808_Geographical_based_variations_in_white_truffle_Tuber_magnatum_aroma_is_explained_by_quantitative_differences_in_key_volatile_compounds "Geographical-based variations in white truffle ''Tuber magnatum'' aroma is explained by quantitative differences in key volatile compounds"], ''New Phytologist'', 2021, vol. 230, p. 1623-1638.</ref>

In recent years, the search for truffles became very popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="gljive-u-bh-sumama-aljazeera-balkans">{{cite news |title=Milioni eura propadaju u bh. šumama |url=http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/milioni-eura-propadaju-u-bh-sumama |access-date=23 August 2018 |work=Al Jazeera Balkans |date=16 April 2017 |language=bs}}</ref> Especially abundant occurrence is recorded in the regions of Vlašić, Lisina and Kozara,<ref name="Kozara-tartuf-novosti.rs">{{cite news |title=Kozara planina tartufa |url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.300.html:432296-Kozara-planina-tartufa |access-date=23 August 2018 |work= novosti.rs |language=sr-Latn}}</ref> and lately, after discovery of its presence, in the western part of the Herzegovina region, around the village of Služanj and the town of Čitluk.<ref name="Hercegovina-bijeli-tartuf-Bljesak.info">{{cite news |title=Nakon smilja, Hercegovina se okreće bijelim tartufima |url=https://www.bljesak.info/gospodarstvo/flash/nakon-smilja-hercegovina-se-okrece-bijelim-tartufima/152520 |access-date=23 August 2018 |work=Bljesak.info |language=en}}</ref>

== Habitat == === Host plants === They grow symbiotically with oak, hazel, poplar and beech.<ref name="Carluccio03"/><ref name="cejka2023">Čejka, Trnka & Büntgen 2023 (see Bibliography)</ref>

The most common host plants cited in the literature are oaks, including associations with Mediterranean species (''Q. pubescens'', ''Q. cerris'' and ''Q. ilex'') and temperate species (''Q. robur'' and ''Q. petraea''). The second most common host plant cited are poplars, mainly ''Populus alba'' (about 13%) but also ''P. nigra'', ''P. tremula'', ''P. canadensis'' and ''P. deltoides''. Among willows, four species are listed: ''Salix caprea'', ''S. alba'', ''S. purpurea'' and ''S. apennina''.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

Less commonly, they are associated with five other species of host plants, each from different genera: ''Abies alba'' (conifer), ''Alnus cordata'', ''Fagus sylvatica'', ''Pyrus pyraster'' and ''Ulmus minor''.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

=== Soils ===

Its soils have an average pH level of ~ 7.7, but it ranges from neutral to alkaline (in comparison, ''Tuber melanosporum'' (Périgord truffle) are restricted to alkaline environments).<ref name="cejka2023"/>

In the Balkans and Pannonia regions, its soils contain 20% clay or more (in opposition to ''Tuber melanosporum'' which needs well-drained soils with higher sand/silt content); but in the Apennines and maybe also in Istria, the silt content dominates (45%) at the expense of clay (< 20%).<ref name="cejka2023"/>

Much depends on the vertical repartition of mineral and organic matter, determined during initial soil formation due to flooding. The sediments are typically high in carbonates (15%) in Italy and Istria, but only around 10% at Hungarian and Balkan sites. Samely, organic matter content in Italy is three times higher (about 14%) than that of WT sites in the Balkans (4.5%). Nitrogen content is relatively low (0.19–0.26%). This gives a C/N ratio of around 7 at Italian sites - which corresponds to relatively slow decomposition rates - and a higher C/N ratio in the Hungarian and Balkan lowlands - exposed to very regular flooding, inducing faster decomposition rates and elevated microbial activity in the uppermost soil layer.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

Associated microbial and fungal communities are poorly known at this stage (2018) and further studies in that direction are recommended.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

=== Temperatures ===

Fruitbodies (ascocarps) need at least 0.4&nbsp;°C (1st percentile) during their formation, which occurs in winter; therefore their distribution range is roughly limited to the north by the mean winter isotherm of 0&nbsp;°C. But this limit may be modified by localised microclimatic pockets, such as may occur in rugged terrains.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

Seasonality (the amplitude between summer and winter) seems to also play an important role. It thrives best at sites with ~ 13&nbsp;°C per year, with average annual temperature ranges of ~ 12&nbsp;°C in Mar–May, 22&nbsp;°C in Jun–Aug, 14&nbsp;°C in Sep–Nov, and 5&nbsp;°C for Dec–Feb. The warmest mean air temperature for WT growth in Jun–Aug is 24.3&nbsp;°C (99th percentile), about four degrees above the physiological optimum for mycelial development in soil; temperatures in excess of this limit reduce the amount of mycelium in the topsoil (on about 10&nbsp;cm); this may explain why ''T. magnatum'' develops extra-radical mycelium in soil horizons below 30&nbsp;cm.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

=== Water ===

Drought-induced stress reduces the amount of mycelium in general. But ''T. magnatum'' is less tolerant than ''T. melanosporum'' and ''T. uncinatum'' (Burgundy truffle) of short-term precipitation deficits in summer because its peridium is not as well developed, thus subjecting the ascocarp to more water transpiration than in these two other species. But it also means that ''T. magnatum'' is more tolerant of summer excess precipitation - up to 180% of normal precipitations, which a bonus for sites located north of the Mediterranean, in particular Geneva (Switzerland). The ongoing climate change, with expected precipitation increase and projected warming, is likely to bring further north the present northernmost limit of its range and expand it into central and western Europe.<ref name="cejka2023"/> <br> On the other hand, temperatures increase in humid continental climates (such as central Europe and the interior of the Balkan Peninsula) is likely to bring in more precipitations and subsequent floodings. The alluvial/riparian habitats of ''T. magnatum'' would then be subjected to excessive waterlogging and overall inundations, which would interfere with the development of mycorrhizae and the formation of fruitbodies, as demonstrated by the Burgundy truffle elsewhere.<ref name="cejka2023"/>

==Uses== White truffles are considered edible.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The white truffle (Tuber Magnatum): where and how to grow it ? |url=https://www.robinpepinieres.com/en/page/37-white-truffle-growing?srsltid=AfmBOopIqhBIdssGSa_q7QXSP2V_8yctZw9_2sVontSkdGaQ9ob5IHee |access-date=2025-11-23 |website=Robin Pépinières}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Jochim |first=Tobias |date=2016-03-04 |title=Trüffel |url=http://www.gourmetglobe.de/kochen/tipps-vom-sternekoch/884-sternekoch-tobias-jochim-so-bereitet-man-trueffel-richtig-zu.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030857/http://www.gourmetglobe.de/kochen/tipps-vom-sternekoch/884-sternekoch-tobias-jochim-so-bereitet-man-trueffel-richtig-zu.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=23 November 2025 |newspaper=Gourmetglobe.de}}</ref>

=== Commercialisation === Italian white truffles are very highly esteemed and are the most valuable on the market.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} The white truffle market in Alba is busiest in the months of October and November when the Fiera del Tartufo (truffle fair) takes place.<ref>{{cite web |title=International Alba White Truffle Fair |publisher=www.fieradeltartufo.org |url=https://www.fieradeltartufo.org/ |website=Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba |access-date=12 October 2023 |language=it-IT}}</ref> In 2001, ''T.&nbsp;magnatum'' truffles sold for between {{convert|2200–4800|$/kg|$/lb|sigfig=2|abbr=off}};<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.restaurant.org/tools/magazines/rusa/magArchive/year/article/?ArticleID=674 |title=Education & Networking {{pipe}} National Restaurant Association {{pipe}} National Restaurant Association |publisher=Restaurant.org |access-date=2012-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817124137/http://www.restaurant.org/tools/magazines/rusa/magArchive/year/article/?ArticleID=674 |archive-date=2011-08-17 }}</ref> as of December 2009, they were being sold at $14,203.50/kg.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

In November 1999, what was then the largest truffle in the world was found near Buje, Croatia.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/travel/what-to-do-in-istria.html |title=36 Hours in Istria |last=Farley |first=David |date=August 16, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=August 18, 2018 |quote=But all that changed on Nov. 2, 1999, when a local Croatian truffle hunter, Giancarlo Zigante, and his dog, Diana, unearthed a nearly three-pound white truffle, at the time the biggest one ever found.}}</ref> The truffle weighed {{convert|1.31|kg|lboz|abbr=on}} and was entered into the ''Guinness Book of Records''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-11000/largest-truffle/ |title=Largest truffle |publisher=Guinnessworldrecords.com |date=1999-11-02 |access-date=2012-06-16}}</ref>

The record price paid for a single white truffle was set in December 2007, when Macau casino owner Stanley Ho paid $330,000 (£165,000) for a specimen weighing {{convert|1.5|kg|lboz|abbr=on}}. One of the largest truffles found in decades, it was unearthed near Pisa, Italy, and sold at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, Hong Kong, and Florence.<ref>{{cite news | date=2007-12-02 | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7123414.stm | title=Giant truffle sets record price | publisher=BBC News | access-date=2007-12-02}}</ref> This record was then matched on November 27, 2010, when Ho again paid $330,000 for a pair of white truffles, including one weighing nearly a kilogram.

In December 2014, a white truffle weighing {{convert|1.89|kg|lboz|abbr=on|frac=2}} was unearthed in the Umbrian region of Italy. It was auctioned by Sabatino Truffles at Sotheby's in New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2014/white-truffle-n09231.html|title=World's Largest White Truffle - Sotheby's|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> While some had expected it to sell for $1&nbsp;million,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.eater.com/2014/12/2/7319185/worlds-biggest-white-truffle|title=World's Largest White Truffle Unearthed in Italy|author=Daniela Galarza|date=2 December 2014|website=Eater|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref> it was sold for $61,000 to a Taiwanese buyer.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/worlds-largest-truffle-goes-auction?int-cid=mod-latest|title=The World's Largest Truffle Goes to Auction|author=Nicola Twilley|date=8 December 2014|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref> In 2021, a white truffle from Piedmont weighing 830&nbsp;g was sold for €103,000 at auction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2021/1115/1260065-white-truffle-italy/|title=Italian white truffle sold at auction for €103,000|publisher=RTE|access-date=24 November 2021|date=15 November 2021}}</ref>

=== Frauds ===

Due to its high price tag and that ''T. magnatum'' is not the only white-coloured truffle around, frauds are frequent<ref name="galindo2021"/> (such as ''T. borchii'' or ''T. asa'').<ref name="greg2020">Staša Hamzić Gregorčič, Lidija Strojnik, Doris Potočnik, Katarina Vogel-Mikuš, Marta Jagodic, Federica Camin, Tea Zuliani & Tea Zuliani. [https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/9/2217 "Can We Discover Truffle's True Identity?", ''Molecules'', vol. 25, n° 9, 2020]</ref> Cheaper ''Tuber borchii'' are sold for ''T. magnatum''. A 2012 test showed that 15% of high-priced truffles sold as French were a cheaper type of truffles coming from China. Isotopic analysis is the most reliable detection of fraud or of mislabelling; the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia is so far (2021) leading the establishment of a corresponding database<ref name="galindo2021">Andrea Galindo. [https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/scientists-detect-fake-truffles "Fake Food: Isotopic Analysis Helps Identify Fraudulent Truffles – The World's Most Expensive Food"], IAEA, July 5, 2021.</ref>

On the Asti market in 2012, more than 90% of the truffles did not come from Alba and about 75% of the white truffles supposedly from Piedmont came from other Italian regions. ''Tuber oligospermum'', that grows well in Tunisia's dry sand and not deemed of any culinary value in Italy, is sold as ''T. magnatum''. In some cases, scent is enhanced with such petroleum-based essence as bis(methylthio)methane which is harmful to human health. In 2017, Italy's financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, uncovered a €66 million tax fraud among truffle producers.<ref name="jacobs">Ryan Jacobs. [https://www.eater.com/2019/5/28/18638762/truffle-fraud-fake-italian-piedmont-alba-white-truffles "Inside the Exceptionally Shady World of Truffle Fraud"], May 28, 2019, on ''eater.com''.</ref>

Zinc content is an important differentiating trait: it was found to be twice as high in ''T. magnatum'' than in all the other truffle species so far tested. ''T. magnatum'' also assimilates/accumulates Cu, K, Na, P, and Zn more efficiently than these other species; on the other hand, ''T. brumale'' was more successful in assimilating/accumulating S.<ref name="greg2020"/>

But carbon isotope signatures of the various truffle species cannot discriminate their geographical origins, because mycorrhizal fungi are enriched in <sup>13</sup>C compared to their host trees (fungi receive up to 20% of the total carbon fixed by their host trees), and forest ecosystems are characterized by settings that are too complex to allow for such discrimination. For example, highly heterogenous Italian forest ecosystems with high fungal biodiversity showed both the lowest and the highest δ<sup>34</sup>S values in the truffle samples.<ref name="greg2020"/>

In 2017, a new Italian tax law imposed on truffle hunters earning more than €7,000 a year from truffle-hunting to provide receipts indicating the origin of their truffles upon the initial sale to a middleman.<ref name="jacobs"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography == * Beatrice Belfiori, Valentina D'Angelo, Claudia Riccioni, Marco Leonardi, Francesco Paolocci, Giovanni Pacioni and Andrea Rubin. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338801293_Genetic_Structure_and_Phylogeography_of_Tuber_magnatum_Populations "Genetic Structure and Phylogeography of ''Tuber magnatum'' Populations], ''Diversity'', vol. 12, n° 2, p.&nbsp;44, January 2020. * Luana Bontempo, Federica Camin & Roberto Larcher. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691520305172?via%3Dihub "Isotopic and elemental characterisation of Italian white truffle: A first exploratory study"], ''Food and Chemical Toxicology'', vol. 145, November 2020. * Ulf Büntgen, Maya Jäggi, Simon Egli, Martin Heule, Martina Peter, Imre Zagyva, Paul J. Krusic, Stephan Zimermann & Istvan Bagi. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749119322286?via%3Dihub "No radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl disaster in Hungarian white truffles (''Tuber magnatum'')"], ''Environmental Pollution'', vol. 252, Part B, September 2019, p.&nbsp;1643-1647. * Tomáš Čejka, Miroslav Trnka & Ulf Büntgen. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00572-023-01120-w "Sustainable cultivation of the white truffle (''Tuber magnatum'') requires ecological understanding"], ''Mycorrhiza'', vol. 33, p.&nbsp;291–302, 2023 * Vasilios Christopoulos, Polyxeni Psoma, Stephanos Diamandis. [https://pbsociety.org.pl/journals/index.php/am/article/view/am.2013.004 "Site characteristics of ''Tuber magnatum'' in Greece"], ''Acta Mycologica'', Vol. 48, n° 1, 2013 * Simone Graziosi, Ian Robert Hall & Alessandra Zambonelli. [https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8392/2/4/135 " The Mysteries of the White Truffle: Its Biology, Ecology and Cultivation"], ''Encyclopedia'', collection ''Encyclopedia of Fungi'', vol. 2, n° 4, 2022 (detailed description of its morphology, differences with other white-coloured truffles, volatile components producing the aromas, etc.) * [https://www.inrae.fr/en/news/controlled-production-white-truffles-made-france-global-first "Controlled production of white truffles Made in France: a global first"], press release, INRAE<sub>(fr)</sub>, 16 February 2021

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Wikispecies inline|Tuber|''Tuber''}}

{{Taxonbar|from= Q2360313}}

magnatum Category:Truffles (fungi) Category:Fungi described in 1788 Category:Fungus species