November 26, 1996

truffle

I am curious about the derivation of the word "truffle" meaning a potato-like fungus that grows beneath the ground. I'm puzzled how a chocolate has the same name. Is there any relationship in their derivation?

Yes, and in this case the relationship is a simple one: the chocolate truffle is named after the fungus.

There are a large number of related fungi known as truffles, but two of them are especially important: the black trufle (Tuber melanosporum), found especially in the Perigord region of France, and the white truffle (Tuber magnatum), found especially in the Piedmont region of Italy. Both are used in cooking, both are found in the wild by trained pigs or dogs, both have resisted most attempts at cultivation, and both are spectacularly expensive. Both are also small, dark, roughly spherical, and rough-textured.

A chocolate truffle, to use its full name, is a confection made with chocolate, butter or cream, and other flavorings, such as liquers or coffee, rolled into a ball and often coated with cocoa, nuts, or more chocolate. They were named "truffles" because the finished candy somewhat resembles the famous fungus.

The word truffle comes (by way of Dutch and Middle French) from Old Provencal trufa, from an unattested Vulgar Latin word tufer, a variant of Latin tuber, which is the source the modern English word tuber.