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Truffles Info

French Truffles

Your guide to French truffles

French truffle locations

Truffles are found mainly in Provence (southeast France), Perigord (southwest France) and Burgundy (Bourgogne). The southeast of France (in the regions PACA and the department of the Gard) produce 70% of French truffles. In a normal year about 50 tonnes of black truffles are obtained. In 2005 there were only 10 tonnes, and 2005 is expected to be about the same, resulting in some record high prices for the black diamonds.

Alpes-Maritimes Truffles

In the early 90s around 30,000 'truffle' trees were planted in the Alpes-Maritimes, between the coast and up to 1200 meters altitude. With the addition of another 2500 oaks (chênes) in 2005, the the cultivated space for truffles (truffières) was expanded to 150 hectares. The goal is to have 300 hectares (600 acres) of "truffières" in the Alpes-Maritimes by the year 2010.

Today, the Alpes-Maritimes produces about 100 kg a year of black truffles from cultivated "truffières" and another 400 kg from "wild" truffle hunting. The Alpes-Maritimes is attempting to reverse this 20%/80% balance to match that it's next-door neighbor, the Var, where 80% of truffles come from "truffières" and 20% from natural growth.

The commune of Le Rouret (10 km east of Grasse) has the Alpes-Maritimes' only "truffières" that's both experimental and occasionally open to the public.

From an article in the Nice Matin, 28 Dec 2005, by Marianne Le Monze

Truffle Finders

The best truffle finder is the pig, with an extremely sensitive smell (that is, the pig smells the truffles very well, not that the pig smells particularly good itself) and a natural fondness for truffles. In the early days, once the truffle was located, there was a race between the pig and the human to obtain the prize. In modern times, the pigs are trained, so they at least give the human a better chance to retrieve the truffle. The pig has another advantage in that, once its truffle-sniffing days are over, it can be served up in a cassoulet, probably without truffles.

For many years now dogs have been trained to sniff out the elusive truffles, and a good truffle dog is worth his or her weight in black diamonds. That value has translated into truffle-dog rustling in some areas in the South of France.