The black or Périgord truffle is the most celebrated culinary truffle, a knobbly black underground fruiting body of a fungus that lives in symbiosis with oak and hazel roots. Because it grows below ground and cannot be seen, it is hunted with trained dogs (historically pigs). The aroma is deep, musky, earthy, and chocolatey, and unlike the white truffle it can take gentle heat, so it is shaved over warm pasta, eggs, and risotto or steeped into fats. It is partly cultivated via inoculated 'truffle orchards', though wild winter truffles remain the benchmark. Beware cheap 'truffle oil', which is usually synthetic 2,4-dithiapentane, not real truffle.
Deep, musky, earthy-chocolatey; intensely aromatic.
Winter (roughly Dec–Mar in the Northern Hemisphere); wild-hunted and orchard-grown.
Identification is a chain of clues that must all agree. This is a reference, not an identification authority -- confirm every wild find with an expert.
Visually similar but far weaker aroma; often passed off as Perigord. Not dangerous, just a fraud risk.
Black warty exterior, dark marbled interior, intense aroma; found by trained dogs. Buy from reputable sources — cheaper Tuber species are sold as substitutes and synthetic 'truffle oil' contains no truffle.