Summer truffle or Choiromyces venosus

The fruiting body is an irregular, tuber-like lump, 2–8 cm (sometimes up to 12 cm) across. When young it’s white or cream, with a smooth surface. With age it turns yellowish-brown with reddish-brown blotches. The surface is matte and may wrinkle slightly as it matures.

The fruiting body is underground, globose to irregularly globose, 2-10 cm across (sometimes up to 15 cm). Fully buried in the soil, with no distinct above-ground part. The surface is hard, blackish-brown to blackish, with characteristic hard pyramidal (5-7 mm) warts that resemble the skin of a black pineapple. The warts are 5-6-sided, with fine radial cross-lines at the tip.

The spore-bearing layer is inside — in a young mushroom the “flesh” is uniformly white; as it matures, distinctive labyrinth-like, net-like darker veins develop, running through the white base. Cut open, a mature mushroom shows a striking marbled pattern — which is where the name “meandriformis” comes from (after the meanders of a river).

An ascomycete — spores form in sacs (asci) in the inner chambers of the fruiting body. The gleba (inner tissue) in mature specimens is hazel-brown with white marbled veins (sterile tissue). Spore print: dark brown to blackish.

There’s no stem — the fruiting body is hypogeous (underground), fully buried in the soil. It is attached to the substrate by thin mycelial strands.

No stem. The fruiting body is attached to the symbiotic roots by thin rhizomorphs.

In young mushrooms the flesh is solid white, dense and meaty. In mature ones it’s a white base with a network of yellow-brown or grayish veins. The texture resembles a firm cheese.

Flesh (gleba): dense, marbled, creamy white in young ones; with age it turns hazel-brown with a characteristic pattern of thin white veins between the dark brown spore-bearing chambers. Smell: distinctly aromatic, intense, with notes of earth, nuts, forest mushrooms and burnt chocolate — a diagnostic feature and its main value. Taste: intense, complex, earthy and nutty.

The smell is strong and peculiar — like a mix of Camembert cheese, canned mushrooms and raw potato. In fresh specimens it’s pleasant; in overripe ones it becomes sharp and unpleasant. The taste is mild, with a nutty note.

A distinctive, characteristic, intense aroma with notes of earth, nuts, forest mushrooms, coffee, burnt chocolate and a faint whiff of decay — the basis of its culinary value.