PRODUCT WATCH: Périgord Truffles
| Feeling rich or reckless? Hankering to buy a voluptuous gift for yourself or your BFF (best foodie friend)? The French truffle season opens the last week of November. In the Périgord, the world’s greatest black truffle region, pigs, dogs and trufflers (human truffle hunters) will beating the bushes (or more literally, the forests of great oak and chestnut trees) for the precious fungus. While most connoisseurs pledge their troth to the white Alba truffle of Italy, we have always loved cooking with the Périgord truffle (the white truffle can’t be cooked, just grated over food). |  Two Périgord truffle hunters: man and pig. |
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| QuelObjet.com flies fresh black truffles directly to the U.S. from the Périgord, and will overnight express them to your doorstep. But orders must be placed in advance: They only import what has been ordered. To learn more about truffles, read our overview article, complete with a Truffle Glossary, recipes and some beautiful truffle photos. Truffles are found four to five inches underground, growing on the roots of oaks and a few other trees. Since they can’t be seen, they need to be sniffed out. Pigs have great noses for locating truffles and will naturally root them out. But pigs love truffles as much as we do, and will swallow them on the spot if they are not restrained (and as you can see from the size, it takes a tough man to restrain a large pig). Dogs, which can be trained to find truffles, but have no interest in eating them, are the preferred scout of most trufflers. P.S. If you plan a truffle feast…please invite us. | ||
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Meredith said,
February 28, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
where can i buy one and how much are they?
Nibble Editors said,
March 1, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
Meredith, go to QuelObjet.com and see if they are still Périgord truffles to be had. We got ours in December (around $400 worth, but I don’t remember what the weight was). Winter black truffle season only runs through March. However, the company may be offering spring truffles—not as aromatic, but pretty good. Read our Truffle Glossary (link above) for details.