The Périgord truffle is also known by its French name Truffe du Périgord. Its botanical name is Tuber melanosporum. As with the Alba truffle, the name alone does not necessarily indicate the country of origin — the typical source countries for the Périgord truffle are France, Italy and Spain. Today "Périgord" is primarily a quality mark, less a geographical guarantee.
Appearance and character
This species has a dark to black outer skin (peridium) and a flesh (gleba) in deep black with fine, white veining. The aromatic flavour and distinctive scent are highly prized — it is among the most popular and most expensive black truffles, and is the classic ingredient of French haute cuisine: sauce Périgueux, tournedos Rossini, stuffed Bresse poularde.
Cultivation in France and Italy
Every attempt to cultivate the white truffle has failed dismally. The Périgord truffle, by contrast, is cultivated very successfully in France, Italy and Spain. Oak seedlings are inoculated with truffle spores, planted out into soil with a pH around 8 — and after eight to fifteen years the productive phase begins. Today the bulk of the Périgord harvest comes from cultivated plantations.
The historical collapse
Until the late nineteenth century the Périgord region was France's largest truffle supplier — with record yields of more than 1,000 tonnes per year. Phylloxera, industrialisation, two world wars and rural depopulation brought production down to less than 5 per cent of historical quantities. The annual French harvest today is around 30 to 50 tonnes — a fraction of what would be possible.
The renaissance of cultivation
Since the 1990s, Périgord truffle cultivation in France has experienced a quiet renaissance. Specialist nurseries sell oak and hazel seedlings inoculated with melanosporum; they offer plantation consultancy and irrigation systems. Yields remain modest but consistent — and quality today is regularly higher than that of the East European black market.
On the menu
To experience the Périgord truffle in classic style: a small, unbaked brioche, a stoned black truffle in the centre, filled with a little goose liver parfait — fifteen minutes in the oven, finished just before serving with a drop of Sauternes. Plain, almost peasant French classicism.
More on the botany and aroma of the black truffle under Black truffles, and on the cultivation method under Truffle cultivation.