Truffle price doubles... and more
Truffle fans were left paying over the odds for a product meagre in both quality and quantity in the run up to Christmas and prices soared as the main market at Sainte-Alvère in Dordogne had little to offer due to the summer drought.
However, prospects this month are much better with the Fédération Départementale des Trufficulteurs du Périgord saying the sought-after Tuber melanosporum were “more black, cheaper but better quality” than last month and were starting to appear in real numbers.
Périgord production had been “starting to improve” as Christmas approached, helped by some owners watering private plantations to give a boost, but this could not be overdone.
However, the federation admitted quality “was not good” and its inspectors had even prevented some truffles – deemed to be immature and damaged – from being sold in the auction.
Over the border in Lot, prices were double last year’s, at €850 a kilo, and set to rise even further – making what some buyers said was a ‘real luxury product’.
