French Truffle cultivation

The French Production and the producing Regions

A little over a century ago, according to statistics established by Mr. Chatin, France produced 1,320 tones of black truffles, or Tuber Melanosporum. The southeast produced 785 tonnes, or 60% of the total national production, with the main producing departments being the Vaucluse, the Drome and the Alpes de Haute Provence.

The southwest produce 445 tonnes, or 33.5% notably in the Lot and the Dordogne departments.

The center and the west of the country produced the remainder of the truffles, or 6.5% essentially in the Charente.

Today, truffle production areas have evolved, and the truffle cultivation has greatly decreased.

Depending upon the year, the average annual production is in the order of 20 tonnes, with occasionally the total production growing to as much as 46 tonnes.

80% of the production is still essentially in the southeast, mainly in the Drome, the Vaucluse and the Alpes de Hautes Provence, being the three principal departments (in 1999/2000 the national total was 30 tonnes, of which 27.4 came from the south-east and 3.6 tonnes from the south-west). From this production advantage stems the fact that the Tricastin area has it's own appellation or kind of truffle called the "truffe noire du Tricastin". The main areas of production are in the northern Vaucluse and the southern Drome.