Buying Truffle Ask the vendor or sales clerk to make a small slice out of the truffle so that you can view its meat and judge if it is in good condition. Choose truffles that have been cleaned. A truffle s dirt or cleanliness has nothing to do with its freshness, smell, and flavor. So go for the clean ones. Harvested from January through April, white summer truffle is the least popular among the main types of truffles. Its meat is off-white with traces of tan, while its outer skin is white or tan. The mildly aromatic black summer truffle has a tannish white inner flesh and brownish black wrinkled outer skin. And, even in restaurants, truffles are used sparingly not only because these are expensive but it also has a very pungent taste. For those who can afford to consume large amounts of truffles, these can be served and eaten raw. Or these can also be preserved, usually in light brine in cans and bottles that can be found in gourmet sections of supermarkets. What you must be wary about when hunting truffle mushrooms is the false truffle type, which is not safe for human consumption. It can be tricky because this mushroom resembles the real ones. How Are They Located? Finding truffle mushrooms is like looking for needle in a haystack. It s that difficult. What makes truffle hunting all the more difficult is the fact that this mushroom variety grows underground. You can dig truffles from as deep as 15 inches from the ground. That is why you enlist the help of a trained dog or pig when scouring different sources of truffles in the wild. Your hunting buddy must have the ability to detect the pungent smell of truffles. Weed control is also important. To control weed growth, you would need to cultivate, spray and even apply some mulch. Lime treatment, aeration and soil and promoting root growth of the host tree. When cultivating truffles, it is important to consider and understand that truffle growing would require time, energy and effort.