Périgourdine chefs often blend black truffles with Cabécou (pure goat cheese) or pâté to create boldly flavored, rich concoctions. Photograph by Jean Picard

 

Black-truffle Links

In print truffle cultivator Hugues Martin holds forth on the elusive essence of black truffles. Here we offer a taste of his life and work.

Heavy downpours, thick snow or frost, or scorching heat are about the only elements that can keep trufficulteur Hugues Martin from his fields. Barring unruly conditions—which slow his canine hunting partners—Martin, clad in a Barbour jacket and “four-wheel-drive ranger shoes” sets out in search of one of southwestern France’s rarest culinary treasures: black truffles.

Trufficulteur Hugues Martin pauses while black labrador Louisiane sniffs around a hazelnut tree; black truffles develop at the roots and grow underground for nine months. Photograph by Jean Picard

Work begins at the break of dawn. Martin’s dogs—a labrador, fox terrier, and terrier/setter—are trained to sniff out the truffles, which emit a pungent perfume-like odor. (Pigs are also efficient truffle gatherers.) Once a truffle is detected, Martin digs it out with a scraping tool. The mushroom-like fungus, Martin notes, grows for about nine months at the roots of a variety of trees, including green and pubescent oaks and European and Turkish hazels. “A symbiotic way of life exists between a tree and a mushroom.” Truffle trees were first planted on Martin’s farm in 1972.

Martin’s quest is difficult due to an unexplained decline in truffle growth. “It will always be a new adventure for the men who gather it,” he says. Up to 11 pounds (five kilograms)—quite a bundle, considering some are no larger than peas—can be collected in one outing.

Truffles thrive in Périgord’s chalky, clay-filled soil, particularly during the region’s notoriously hot, intermittently rainy August and September months. Maturation begins in November or December. In season—prime season spans from about mid-November to mid-March—Martin gathers truffles daily, except for Mondays, when he sells the truffles at the local market for (depending on the month)about the equivalent of U.S. $15-20 per ounce (per 28 grams). Until, that is, nightfall intervenes.

—Heather Morgan

Heather Morgan is a TRAVELER associate researcher.