The bianchetto or whitish truffle is a small, pale European truffle that fruits from winter to early summer. It forms ectomycorrhizae with oaks and conifers and has low host specificity, which makes it suitable for cultivation. It is often passed off as the more valuable Italian white truffle (T. magnatum).
Edible and valued in cooking, though less sought-after than the Italian white truffle (T. magnatum), with which it is often fraudulently substituted. Confirm identification: other hypogeous fungi such as Elaphomyces are commonly mistaken for truffles.
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Habitat
Underground, ectomycorrhizal mostly in oak groves, less often with conifers (fruiting early in pine plantations). Prefers calcareous sandy soils at pH 6-8, occasionally down to 5.2. December to June; in Italy mainly mid-January to April.
Distribution
Throughout Europe, from Finland to Italy and the Iberian Peninsula, and from Ireland and Great Britain to Hungary and Poland; very common in France, including Corsica. Commercially cultivated in North Carolina, USA.
Characteristics
Fruit body: About 1-3 cm, rounded and often knobbly or irregular, without a stem. Peridium: White and slightly velvety when young, becoming smooth, reddish ochre with brown markings. Gleba: Compact; whitish when young, becoming light ochre to pinkish brown, with white, twisted, branching veins. Asci: Roundish, with 1-4 spores. Spores: 35-55 x 25-40 µm, brown, ellipsoid to rounded. Odor: Pleasant when young; unpleasant, like kitchen gas, at maturity; flavour described as garlicky or hazelnut-like.
Difficulty
Expert
Growth speed
Slow
Substrates
Living roots of oaks or pines in calcareous sandy soil (pH about 6-8)
