A golden disk of quarter-sized sauteed potato slices is topped with unusually tasty summer truffles.

A perfect risotto accompanied by a big silver spoon satisfied a fussy child who refused the addition of summer truffles.

Fresh black Italian truffles, also called summer truffles, are less pungent - and less expensive - than the white ones.

A risotto starring chanterelles and smoked scallops crowned with a slice of summer truffle came next.

As their name suggests, summer truffles are harvested earlier than burgundy truffles, from May to August.

White truffles from other areas of Italy have been known to show up at the Alba market, summer truffles passed off as winter.

The public is frequently confused, people in the industry say, between the real black Perigord truffle and the much inferior "summer truffle."

Mr. Pinto said the summer truffle is inferior and gives the Perigord variety a bad name.

The summer black truffle appears on menus in early June.

The summer truffle and the pecan truffle from the American South are milder.