“It’s the very first”, breathes Michel with a mischievous smile, almost afraid to talk about it like that in person. This Limousin cow breeder owns a few hectares of woods and truffle fields around Brantôme in the Périgord Vert, and yes, he says it, supporting photo : he feasted on the first porcini mushrooms picked up in his plots this week.
The Lot has started, the Basque Country too, but Périgord is still waiting for its first noticeable growth of the season. With the drought playing extra time, the lucky few who were able to find one often had the unpleasant surprise of having poor quality. The rain is slow, and the hydrometry is obviously the essential factor for growth.
A few kilos, much less than last year
But in the woods at Michel’s, “there is a very, very humid place where a spring flows under the oaks, so there was a very small growth that was made”certainly “much less important than other years.” Every year at the beginning of September, the mushrooms come out of the ground. He picked up one fifty pounds last year in the same era : “There, we had less than ten this year”.
It’s not Peru, but it’s still “a good little snack”shared as a family – there are none didn’t have enough to share with friends. “The first, in an omelette of course”and then “porcini mushrooms with parsley and Limousin meat”. “They were very good, very fragrant, beautiful blacks”assures Michel.
An exceptional year announced
According to Frédéric Placin, a physics-chemistry teacher in a Bordeaux high school who owns a boletière in Biscarrosse and has been studying Bordeaux ceps for 25 yearsthe year promises to be exceptional: “The drought started in early spring, so it hasn’t rained much in the area for a very long time. And this drought was very beneficial to the fungus, because it was able to feed at the expense of the tree “.
Now we have to wait good rainfall, then ten days to hope to see the black heads emerge from the ground. Some also say that the Moon needs to be fuller, to better illuminate the night. “There will be no porcini mushrooms until there is water”recalls Michel, his eyes turned towards the sky.