So it s rather unwise to scour every tree for truffles because you ll just waste your time. For example, you can t find truffles at the roots of a maple tree. Instead, focus your search on oak, hazelnut, fir, beech, hickory, and eucalyptus trees. Soil quality - Truffles are abundant in warm and moist soils. Other varieties of truffle mushroom include white summer truffle and black summer truffle. 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. Choose truffles that have dark exterior colors and white or light color in their exterior. They should also smell musky or earthy for white truffles and pungent for black truffles. If you can t smell anything or you smell something like ammonia, then look for other truffles. If you buy ripe or mature truffles, eat them as soon as you can. 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. About 70 various types of truffles grow worldwide, but only some of them are known to be edible. Truffles are unique mushrooms because of their location underground. They also grow on the roots of certain types of trees such as oak and pine. Since truffles are hard to find, people use trained dogs and pig to hunt for them in the woods. Store your truffles for a maximum period of three days in the refrigerator. When storing your truffles, wrap them individually in paper towel and place them in a sealed jar to ensure that its odor won t affect other foods in the fridge. Regardless of variety, truffles work best when paired with fat-rich foods such as cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano varieties), butter, cream, and foie gras.