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How
do you find Black Gold in the Dordogne?
We
have friends who grow truffles, and we often have meals with them where
the flavouring is subtly enhanced by a generous shaving of truffles.
But how do they grow?
The truffle
harvesting season lasts from November to March, and one crisp sunny
winter’s day, we had a phone call: our friends were going to search
for truffles, and would we like to see how they did it?
The household
pet labrador, Polly, has been trained to look for Tuber melanasporum
(the Black Périgord Truffle), and the search starts by getting
her to focus on the likely growing areas, set among a scattered plantation
of oak trees.
As
she locates a probably scent, she starts to dig furiously to get to the
spore; we have to haul her off quickly, so as not to damage the growth.
We were then
down on our knees, with noses to the ground; a powerful, heady aroma of
truffle (there’s nothing else like it) drifted up from the disturbed
grass and chalky stones. We softly scraped the soil and stones away with
a knife all round the truffle, until the gnarled, round ball was prised
free, unbroken, from its growing place.
Weighing comes
next, to keep a record of exactly which oak tree produces the highest
yield, and the fruit is categorised by size, aspect and age. Depending
on its state – not too old, not too young is perfect - the truffle
harvest is divided; the best ones go straight to top local restaurants,
where a standing order means they’ll be taken without fuss. Exceptionally,
they may be boxed up for a special order and sent off to Paris or Bordeaux.
If the crop
in any one year is really large, then they may be sold in the market in
Périgueux or Ste Alvère, but in an average year, the lesser
specimens are frozen, and used up or sold through the winter. Frozen with
care, that is; if they are not hermetically sealed, then the entire contents
of the freezer takes on a distinctly `truffly’ flavour.
After no more
than an hour, Polly indicated she was tired of this game (by wandering
off and lying down) so we knew that there were no more fresh truffles
to be had that day.
And so it continues
each day throughout the winter. Because it’s essential to dig out
the fresh tuber, bursting with flavour, just after it has exploded into
being the `black gold’ of the Périgord, if it’s a cold,
crisp morning the following day, with little or no wind, then the truffle
hunt starts again.
….. and
that’s how, eventually, Périgord truffles reach the restaurants
in London and Paris.
Robin
Fenton lives the French life in the Dordogne. You can experience a taste
of his region by being a guest at his holiday property. Forgebasse Holiday
Rentals
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