Rhizopogon roseolus or Summer truffle

The fruiting body is round or egg-shaped and elongated, 1–3 cm across. The surface of a young mushroom is white with a distinctive pinkish or violet-pink tint. With age it darkens to yellowish brown or ocher, more rarely to reddish brown. The surface is smooth or has fine fibrous mycelial strands at the base.

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 young ones the gleba is white and firm; as it matures it develops a distinctive labyrinth-like structure with cavities. Spore print ocher-brown. Spores smooth, oblong, 7–16 × 3–5 µm.

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 is no stem. The fruiting body is hypogeous (underground), fully buried in the soil or with just the very top poking through the surface. At the base there are distinctive mycelial strands.

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

The flesh (gleba) is white, firm and meaty in young specimens. As it matures it turns yellowish or ocher and becomes spongy with cavities. In old ones it is watery and dark brown.

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 faint; in young ones it recalls raw nuts or fresh almonds. In mature ones it grows stronger, with a note of raw root vegetables. The taste is mild and bland.

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.