Perigord Truffle Markets

The black truffle of the Perigord fruits underground between December and March, and the trade in it happens in short, tense market sessions in a handful of small towns. Growers arrive with baskets under cloths, buyers walk the line smelling rather than looking, and everything is sold by weight against scales set on a trestle table. At Lalbenque, over the boundary in the Lot, the market opens on a whistle at a fixed hour and is effectively finished within one. Prices move week to week with the weather and the harvest. Alongside the markets, farms run demonstrations where a trained dog works an oak plantation and digs one out.

What you actually see

• The opening whistle - the Lalbenque market starting on a signal, all at once.
• Sale by weight - scales on trestles and no fixed price from one week to the next.
• Dog demonstrations - a trained dog working an oak plantation on a farm visit.
• The winter markets - Sarlat, Sorges and Perigueux on their fixed weekdays.

When to go

The season runs from December into early March, with the best fruit in January. Markets take place on a fixed weekday per town, in the morning or early afternoon, and they finish fast, so arriving at the stated hour is not early enough. Check the day before travelling, since sessions are dropped when a week produces nothing.

Honest expectations

These are trade markets rather than tourist events, and the whole thing can be over in forty minutes with visitors standing at the back. Buying well needs a sense of smell and firmness that a first-timer does not have. Summer truffle is a different and far weaker species, sold to the unwary all year. Truffle menus in season are expensive.

Nearby

The medieval centre of Sarlat, the Dordogne valley castles and the painted caves of the Vezere valley.