From that moment, as we journeyed from Grignan to Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, we voraciously collected snippets of information about a holy grail of gourmet gastronomy, la truffe noire – the black truffle.
Here are 10 funghi facts (or Tuber truths) we picked up along the way:
- The Tricastin / Pays de Grignan area is the world’s main source of black truffles.
- Like mushrooms, truffles belong to neither plant nor animal kingdoms. They reproduce through spores.
- In France, the word truffe can also mean a person who is naïve (a polite way of putting it).
- During the Middle Ages, la truffe noire was considered a no-no by the Church. As they were “black as a damned soul”, eating truffles was considered to be dabbling with the devil.
- They exude an aroma of dry mushrooms, dank forests and humus – not the chickpea and tahini dip, but the organic whiff from natural woodland waste.
- Dogs or pigs are used to …
