Truffles in Touraine
Like elsewhere in France, polyculture was widespread in our countryside. So, near Chinon and Richelieu, it was not unusual for farmers to have a truffle patch to round off their income, as well as growing saffron. Truffle farming flourished especially in the late 19th century. But with the rise of mechanical farming and specialisation, truffle farming declined. And it was only in the 1970s that truffles resurfaced in Touraine’s agricultural landscape, when mycorrhizal trees were planted. For the tuber melanosporum, pubescent oaks and evergreen oaks are mainly used, since truffles develop in a symbiotic relationship with the trees’ root network (they take sugars from trees and provide mineral salts). For other varieties of truffle, wholesale nurseries also provide truffle-friendly hazels, hornbeams, elm, cistus and black pine, among others.
THE TRUFFLE PATCH
Planted on the plateau in 2021 extented the estate’s landholding to encompass the remarkable landscape
