The capital of the black truffle will soon once again be celebrating the black gold. If you’re a truffle hound, start packing your bags
Ask anyone in France where the best truffles come from and they will almost certainly talk about the Lot Department, and Lalbenque in particular, ‘ La Capitale De Truffe Noire’.
Located about an hour’s drive north of Toulouse, this small village has long been an epicentre of a product that was once banned by the clergy, who claimed the truffle was ‘as black as the heart of a damned soul’.
It’s certainly a mysterious thing, the winter black truffle or Tuber melanosporum, Like all truffles it exists through an unique symbiotic relationships with the roots of several tree species, providing the host tree with nutrients in exchange for carbohydrates.
For centuries they occurred naturally, but rarely, thus increasing their value, until the secret of ‘seeding’ baby oak trees and planting them to cultivate truffles commercially was found. .
Truffles love moist chalky soil, the sort that is not much use for grape growing, and once people were convinced it was worth waiting the many years before harvest, ‘truffle trees’ were planted in large quantities. In 1890 2,000 tonnes of truffles were produced in the region in just one year.
One major market town was, and is, Lalbenque. The black truffle harvest season is from December to March, with a truffle market every Tuesday, and each year in January Lalbenque hosts a truffle festival weekend organised by the Comité de Pilotage de la Truffe à Lalbenque.
The street’s restaurants and bars, Le Bistronome, L’Encantado et Au goût Dujour, all put on truffle menus for the occasion, and even as I parked my hire car I fancied I could detect truffles on the breeze. Squeezing into the first bar, welcoming the warmth, and the crowds of happy people, that aroma made me powerfully hungry.
Within minutes I had a glass of Cedre, a wonderful Cahors rouge, in front of me and was tucking into raw scallops with truffles, roasted camembert on toast with truffle butter and eggs on toast with truffled mayonnaise. It reminded me of the Spam song in Monty Python, everything had to have truffles in it, but I wasn’t complaining.
Taking a pause I asked the rather distinguished looking man sitting opposite if he was a ‘trufficulteur’, a truffle producer? ‘Non,’ he replied, with a suspicious look, ‘Je m’appelle Claude Serillon’.
Of course, the very famous (in France) French journalist and TV presenter, one of the key figures of this truffle weekend and who would be seen around a lot. Perhaps in revenge for my ignorance he then forensically interrogated me about why we left the EU and why we tolerated Farage, I muttered something about how I never voted for any of it and the whole table laughed and offered me more wine
The next morning, the truffle weekend began in earnest with a demo of patisserie with truffles by Anne-Lise Delort, cheffe pâtissière de Saison Patisserie. She had a tupperware box full of tubers, each the size of a golf ball, and proceeded to make choux pastries rich with truffled chocolate.
Outside was a truffle market on tables set up amid the usual Saturday market stalls. Here producers were selling single truffles -average price €1000 a kilo with the average weight of a single truffle about 22 grams.
Not just home consumers buying here either, many of the buyers were agents for restaurants across France and the world. Truffles freeze very well for transport and can be vacuum packed, or preserved in oil.
By the church, in the marquee of local producers, lunchtime truffle snacks were being served and I went for a truffled omelette cooked fresh on a camping stove. Truffles go remarkably well with just-cooked eggs, needing only the eggs’ residual warmth to release their flavour. Sliced and grated in generous quantities that you’d never ever see in a restaurant, truffle turns a simple dish into a gourmet one and I took my paper plate outside with a €3 glass of wine to wash it down. Delicious.
So what do what truffles taste like? The aroma is stronger than the taste, which is quite earthy and savoury with an umami that enhances any dish’s own flavours. It is kind of mushroomy, but also buttery and with hints of olive. Texturally, whether shaved or grated, it is more toothsome than a mushroom, almost crunchy.
Down behind the church was a demo of ‘cavage’ the hunting of truffles with dogs. Because of the ‘inoculation’ the growers know there should be truffles within a small radius of each tree, but they can’t dig everything up to look. The ‘chiens truffiers’ guide them to the spot and then retreat to be rewarded, while the grower goes in with a metal spike to unearth the ‘black diamond’.
The dogs themselves are an Italian breed, Lagotto Romagnolo.Trained by simple reward methods from an early age, they really love their work.
I went off to take the opportunity to go on a guided walk and talk about truffles with Colin who organises such things every Tuesday in the season. Very informative about truffle culture, and its place in the rural history and the identity of the people of the Lot.
Later after a visit to the small truffle museum, full of interesting facts about truffles and their cultivation, I headed to the village salle de fetes, where around two hundred people sat at long tables, sang classic songs, danced to accordion music and consumed a special truffle three course dinner.
We had butternut squash soup, served with extra thick cream loaded with truffles, and then a hunk of confit beef, Périgueux sauce made from vegetables, ham and truffles, and potato fondant also shot through with truffles, Brie aux mendiants (brie stuffed with nuts and dried fruit) and then a dessert of nougat, creme anglaise and truffled cream.
The wine was flowing and the line dancing and Mexican waves down each long table was wonderful.
Sunday dawned with a demo of truffle cooking by Chef Patron Pascal Bardet of Michelin starred Le Gindreau in Saint-Médard. His use of truffles to make an elevated Croque Monsieur, amongst other dishes, was inspiring and we all enjoyed the tastings while saving space for his much anticipated lunch in the Mairie.
For this he’d brought his young team from Le Gindreau, including his sommelier and maitre’d. At €155 a head including wine, it was not going to be cheap, but it was going to be an almost unrepeatable truffle experience. I gave early thanks by observing the benediction of the truffle dogs by the village priest, which the dogs seemed very pleased with.
A guided group walk around the village put an edge on my hunger and it was time for lunch.
Pascal’s team had transformed the mayoral space into a classy dining room where we sat at long tables to savour his menu. A succession of elegantly crafted dishes all truffle heavy, with Pascal himself coming round with a grater to add even more.
Each of the seven or so dishes was outstanding. I particularly liked sweetbreads wrapped in filo to resemble the popular Rocamador cheese and bound (and topped) with truffles and salsify, and a dish of cabbage cooked in embers and then truffled up. Perhaps the best dish was the dessert, rice pudding infused with truffles and topped with barely warmed truffle caramel. It can’t be stressed enough, don’t overheat truffles.
It was absolutely remarkable, a triumph, but those not able to pay €155 weren’t going hungry either because back up at the Salle de Fetes a large crowd was enjoying foie gras ravioli with truffles, veal stuffed with truffles, truffled roast squash, truffled brie with salad and locals pears with, you guessed it, truffles.
Finally truffled out, I went to watch the marquee being closed down and the captains and the kings depart. The stalls were packed up, the exhibitions of photos and crafts welcomed a few last stragglers and the dogs lapped up water ready for their ride home.
In the distance I saw Claude Serillon still genially talking to his many fans, still looking as dapper and elegant as only French leftish intellectuals can. I waved over their heads and he waved back, he had clearly forgiven me for Brexit, and perhaps also for Nigel Farage. A love of truffles is a great unifier.
Useful facts.
The 2026 Festival will run 𝟐𝟑 – 𝟐𝟓 January 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔.
Chef Patron Pascal Bardet will again host a lunch. Tickets can be booked now
Lalbenque, Sortie 58 Autoroute A20. Lalbenque also has a train station
Each Tuesday in the season there is a truffle walk starting at 10:00 with Cahors wine tastings, there are truffle tastings at 13:30 at the Mairie and dog demonstrations at 15:30 in front of the Mairie. The truffle market is from 14:30
The Maison De La Truffe is open every Tuesday from 11:00 to 17:00 until March
The Festival toques & truffes runs until mid March
Nick stayed at B&B La Clé D’Escamps. A beautifully renovated 19th century house a few miles away. www.cledescamps.com
More info
www.tourisme-lot.com
www.capitaldelatruffe.lalbenque.fr
www.cahorsvalleedulot.com
Nick’s trip was aided by :
– du Comité Régional du Tourisme et des Loisirs de la région Occitanie,
– de l’Office de Tourisme Cahors – Vallée du Lot,
– de l’Agence de Développement Touristique Lot Tourisme.
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