The Black Diamond of the Perigord

I wish these were growing in my back garden!

This is the black Truffle (Tuber Melanosporum), black diamond of the Perigord and much prized by gastronauts the world over.

Saturday is market day in my local town, Sarlat. This Saturday was a little different as it was host to the Fete Internationale de la Truffe and a veritable truffe extravaganza it has been.

This beautiful medieval town was perfumed with the heady scent of truffle. A scent like no other. If you’re asked "what does truffle smell like" there's only one answer, 'err, umm, well truffle really'. Incomparable

It was truffle everything day. Truffle liquers, cheese with truffle, truffle veloute -like a soup cappuccino with a truffle froth, truffle eggs and even truffle chocolate!

The atmosphere was thick with excitement and expectation. La Ville de Sarlat really laid it on. There were stalls ladling lashings of hot duck soup for free. Extra croutons s'il vous plait! all washed down with a glass of Bergerac rouge, gratuit.

Is this the happiest man in France? Quite possibly. See that bowl on the table, full of the black stuff , yours for a couple thousand euros.

This beautiful dog really earns his keep. There was a display area where you could watch him find buried truffles in seconds! There was a time when pigs were used to locate truffles, however it was always difficult to stop them eating their find and when a pig wants to gorge on buried treasure, well that’s a determined animal to try and stop.

These are young Oak trees with the truffle mycelia present. It will take some years but eventually you’ll have your own subterranean harvest. This is trufficulture.