The truffle production
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 History
Native land of XVth century King François Ier, the Charente, a region of traditions, meets with is prosperous past when truffles were the food of kings. François Ier would then call truffles "the sovereign" (la souveraine) - according to the legend, truffles saved him from the Spanish prisons. |
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| A fine gourmet, François Ier consummed truffles without moderation. His doctor would find extravagant virtues to truffles in order to justify the king's excessive consumption. Upon his orders, the park which is now park François Ier in Cognac was seeded to produce the truffles he would have delivered to the court. |
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| Truffle production in France and in Charentes |
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| French production is currently unable to satisfy the French domestic market. Truffle growing has always been a secret activity. During the recent years this activity has however been subject to a revival. Organisations such as the INRA (French National Institute for Research in Agronomy) promote efforts to rationalise the production. From an economic perspective, France must start producing again. Indeed in 1880 France produced 1320 tons of Tuber melanosporum truffles, wheras in 1999/2000 national production amounted only to 30 tons. |  |
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The Charentes region has all the necessary ingredients for a good production (soil, amount of sunlight, etc.). Towards the end of the XIXth century, Charentes produced 50 tons of truffles, due to the planting of truffle grounds following the descruction of Cognac vines by phylloxera. The production has however stagnated since, due to the replanting of vines and the necessity to develop a feeding agriculture. In our days, in the course of agriculture respecting the environment, the Charentes region is again looking at truffle production, a natural and authentic product of its land. |
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