Martin is fascinated by truffles to the point of obsession. 'There are many things we don't understand about them,' he says, 'For example this year summer was very dry but where I irrigated I found less truffles. There is much left unanswered in the truffle system'. In his greenhouse Martin attempts to increase truffle production by growing young oak plants and carefully inoculating the roots with truffle spores ' a process known a 'mychorisation'. But truffle farming demands unwavering patience: these young trees will not be planted outside for another two years and it will be ten to fifteen years before they start producing truffles. Through vigorous research and experimentation, Martin has discovered that truffles grow best in well draining, warm soils. Truffle presence is marked by a 'brulée' or fairy ring, a circle of earth, often around a tree trunk, where no vegetation will grow. 'A tree can produce three or five truffles one year then a kilo the next,' Martin explains, 'As the years go by the truffles are found further from the tree towards the perimeter of the brulée'. When they reach the edge, truffle production is over and it is worth digging up the field and planting with something else to give the soil a rest. Michael Bamberger is an Englishman living in Perigord who has also developed a penchant for truffle hunting. 'You know when there are truffles because the truffle fly is in residence,' he explains, 'When the sun is behind you it is possible to stir up the truffle flies using a stick and watch them land on the spots where there are truffles'.
The black Perigord truffle is a winter truffle, maturing through December, January and February. Martin harvests his 12 hectare plot himself, selling fresh truffles immediately at the nearby Sainte-Foy de Longas truffle market or at St. Alvère, one of the biggest truffle markets in the area. According to Bamberger, the market opens at 8am and by 8:30am all the truffles have been sold. 'Truffle markets are on Monday so you get robbed on a Sunday,' he explains, adding it was on a Sunday last year when a poacher hacked all his truffles out of the ground. Martin also sells truffles to private individuals, mailing them all over the world. The rest he cooks and stores in tins or uses them in preserves and oils to sell at the truffle farm. 'I tell people truffles are a bit like oysters. Once you decide to buy them you have to eat them quickly' he says, 'It is possible to keep them in the fridge for a week but everyday they lose weight and flavour'. And big is certainly not best with truffles, 'The smaller truffles have the strongest flavour,' he explains, 'The large ones are often over ripe and either have no flavour or have gone bad'. Bamberger tells me that if you put a truffle into a box of eggs for a couple of days the aroma will infuse into the eggs, leaving them tasting of truffles. I ask him how the black Perigord variety differs from the white Italian truffles so sought after by the kitchens of London's most fashionable restaurants. 'The white truffles are supposed to be superior,' he admits tentatively, 'But you can't convince a Perigordin that they are better.' Anna Tyzack visited Truffiere de La Bergerie while staying at Le Bourdil Blanc. For more information on holidays in the Dordogne please click here or email Jane Hanslip For further details on Truffiere de La Bergerie please click here or email Hugues Martin
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