EUROPEAN TRUFFLES 



summer truffle, Tuber aestivum. The 

 truffle which is now the one of world-wide 

 fame, Tuber melanosporum (Plate XII, a) 

 often known as the Perigord truffle, seems 

 to have made its entrance into Parisian 

 culinary proceedings towards the close of 

 the 15th century. It is claimed that the 

 superior merits of this form were first dis- 

 covered by Bruyerin-Champin, medical 

 adviser to Francis the First and Henry the 

 Second. In more modern times it has 

 grown in favor and use to such an extent 

 that one might almost divide French hotels 

 into two groups, those affording chefs des 

 cuisines who require and know the value of 

 truffles and those having chefs who do not. 

 Distribution. In spite of the considera- 

 ble use of truffles as a condimentary food in 

 France, about one-third the product grown 

 in that country is exported. It should be 

 remembered, however, that France is prac- 

 tically the only country in which truffles 

 constitute an article of commerce, for al- 

 though truffles are marketed to some extent 



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