The Truffle

 

Truffles have been considered delicacies since time immemorial. The Romans prized them, praised them, and used them in various dishes. They have been celebrated by poets and writers, and the wealthy and powerful have always demanded truffles for their tables. But their origin and nature remained a mystery until the nineteenth centurs.The truffle is an example of nature’s fantasy and perfection. It is a mushroom that is the result of mychorhiza, the symbiotic association of the mycelium of a fungus with the roots of certain plants. Michorhiza allows the fungus’s hyphas (mycelium filaments) to reach and use the carbohydrates obtained by the plant’s photosynthesis and stored up in its roots. Mychorhiza provides benefits to the host plant in the following ways:

- By using the carbohydrates stored up in the plant, it reduces the possible attack from pathogenics;

- A physical barrier is created against the mycelium parasite;

-It helps protect the microorganism’s development in the rhizosphere, the soil that surrounds the roots of the plant;

- It produces hormones beneficial to the host plant’s growth, and secretes antibiotics;

- It multiplies the roots’ branches and increases their absorbant surfaces;- It dissolves and facilitates the absorption of nutrients, especially phosphorus.