Black truffles lovers are not mistaken, it's time to fall for the Touraine black diamond. “January is the best price value price”explained Arthur Houette, Chinese truffle farmer and one of the six binders of the Chinon Truffle Festival, organized by the Syndicat de la Truffe Rabelaisienne on Saturday January 18, 2025.
It's a good time to buy truffles, the fungus is in full maturity.
© (Photo NR)
Many of them made the trip (like Nantes), the 16 kg available were not too much. “Truffles are born in the spring and mature in December, January and Februaryexplains Arthur Houette. In January, maturity is excellent, 90 % of the cavity truffles are at full maturity. »»
Florence Soulier from the Domaine du Moribot in Ligré confirms. “The truffle during the holidays is almost not ripe enough, in January it is there that it is the best: it smells very good, it exhales its whole aroma. »»
At € 1,250 per kg of extra category during the holidays, the same truffle is exchanged around € 900. “During the holidays, demand is important but there is little volume”explains the Chinonese truffle farmer.
The truffle is an extra-fresh product, it will keep ten days in the refrigerator (in a box of eggs for example). “We can freeze them, but there will be a difference in texture and it will not be the same flavor when you crunch a piece”warns Arthur Houette.
The Secretary of Trufflers of Touraine, François-Xavier Saint-Poulof, estimates the number of producers in the department at 300, of which around 170 are members of the association.
© (NR photo, Olivier Brosset)
Problem this year, the season is disrupted and the volume is not there. “We are very annoyed by the slugs, it has not been cold, they proliferated, they attack the truffles”explains Florence Soulier. The predators and the weather explain this low performance. “The rain in November-December, with 60 mm in fifteen days, did not help us”explains Arthur Houette. Less and less bulky truffles. “Like the winemakers who have had small bays of grapes. The truffle needs spring sun, we had a sunshine deficit, so less photosynthesis, the tree less redistributed with truffle sugar. »»
-“Real truffle connoisseurs arrive around January 10”
If January is the time to buy truffles, the season continues in February (up to Valentine's Day).
This is confirmed by François-Xavier Saint-Poulof, secretary of the Touraine Trufflers Association, this Sunday at the Ballan-Miré truffle market, one of the eleven organized this season from December 21 to February 15.
Its president Jérôme Lespagnol also considers that “Real truffle connoisseurs arrive around January 10”. With prices oscillating between 700 and 900 € per kilo on the Ballan-Miré market, producers remain in the current average. Because if the climatic conditions have not been exceptional – a lot of rains and heat deficit at timely times – production is pretty good, even if the caliber of specimens is in the low range.
The brotherhood, truffles, truffles and foie gras from Richelieu is the only truffle brotherhood in Indre-et-Loire. She will have her chapter on February 1.
© (NR photo, Olivier Brosset)
“I have practically no category 1”admits Jérôme Lespagnol, despite everything the quality of production, even if in this area also, each truffle has its specificities. “How do you ask me to choose them?” You have to taste them “François-Xavier trains whose trufflers are on limestone sands. For comparison, on the next stand, Sylvie and Bertrand have their trufflers on limestone soil. Two environments that will produce melanosporum tuber with different characteristics. That everyone will appreciate in terms of their own tastes. Good tasting.
Alexandre Salle and Olivier Brosset
Related News :