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Classifications
Three categories of truffles whatever the variety.
EXTRA : only the truffles of superior quality with a more or less evenly rounded shape are admitted into this category. Without any deterioration caused by predators, Grade : > or = 20 grams.
Category I : truffles of good quality, even if displaying slight faults in colour, aspect, shape. Grade : > ou = 10 grams.
Category II : all other truffles on the condition that they respect the minimum characteristics. Grade : > ou = 5 grams.
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The truffle is the fruit of a mushroom classed by botanists in the "THALLOPHYTES" family. At full maturity it has a tuberculate shape, unevenly globular, made up of a sort of skin, a smooth or coarse bark, that may be of a colour varying from yellowish gray to black.
The truffle thrives mostly in the upper calcareous layers, where the soil is poor and covered by spontaneous vegetation specific to such land. Light enough soil, crumbly and with a good porosity, is favourable to truffles.
The truffle breathes and has a tendency to develop at 5 to 30 cm under the soil's surface. An arable layer of little depth, airy to facilitate the penetration of water, is vital for the truffle. Clay is essential in the regulation of the soil's moisture, but careful, the truffle doesn't like excessive damp.
To sum it up, a good truffle soil is calcareous, poor and not deep, airy, clayey but not too much so, self-draining and warm enough.
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The tree's silent role is complex and beneficial.
In our region the truffle plantations are made up in majority of oaks. The two main varieties are the pubescent oak and the holm oak.
There still also exist some natural sponataneous truffle fields, often in the communal woods more or less looked after.
A partnership is forming to see to the rehabilitation of a former truffle field on the town lands of St Paul Trois Châteaux.
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A sound plantation requires :
an ideal situation halfway up a hill, above all not at the very bottom, the edge of a forest with loosened soil, for example. Humble and generous earth with an excellent preparation of the soil will make for a field favourable to the plantation. This should be in staggered rows (4m, 6m, 8m in each direction). The first years, intercalary cultivation is possible (grapevines, lavender). The truffle plantation does not start to put out until after a dozen, or even more, years ; during this lapse of time it needs attentive care and vigilant maintenence : above all, do not break the oak's rootlets or the truffle mycelium.
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The truffle of France |
The market in St Paul Trois Châteaux
Place de l'Esplan - 26130 Saint Paul Trois Châteaux - France
Phone : + 33(0)4 75 04 58 09
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