Clé France

Ask any normal Frenchman around here (and I live right on the boarder of southern Normandy in Pays de Loire) if truffles can be found locally and you'll either be regarded as a sad deluded Anlgaise or a joke. The more polite will just give a great Gallic shrug whilst puffing the cheeks out like an aged trumpeter. In general, it should be admitted, the question will just result in guffaws.

However, the question is not as daft as it sounds. In theory wherever there are oak trees you should be able to find truffles. There is nothing to say that the elusive fungi can only be found in warmer climes of the south. In fact, like most fungi they can be found all over Europe. I once listened to an Englishman on the radio telling us how he found truffles as far north as Inverness in Scotland. He went on to explain that the Brits did not appreciate them and that he high tailed it to Paris whenever he had a couple of kilos where he could get a decent price for them.

To do this what you do need, of course, is a means to locate them. This is really where the trouble starts. Listen to your southern French expert and he'll assure you the only way is to have a traditional pig. This puts most northern compatriots out of the picture as they would not be seen dead walking around with a pig on a lead. To the northerners a pig represents jambon, saucisson, charcuterie and rillets. Walking a pig on a lead round here would get you put away.

Hence, no one round here even tries and the elusive truffle remains the domain of the crafty southern French. If only a metal detector type of machine could sniff them out, but then, I suppose, we'd all be at it. However, dogs can be trained to sniff them out and I have a friend whose dog did just that all on his own.

The fist time it happened he had no idea what the animal was bringing him and he threw it thinking the dog was playing a game. The dog brought it back and this happened a few times till he thought it was odd shape and nothing like the normal stick, and brought it home. As it happened I was visiting there at the time and quickly identified it as a truffle.

He didn't really believe me and took it to an expert for confirmation. I put this in as proof that dogs can sniff them out but there is a problem. In general they need training and few people have the patience or the nous because it takes time and you have to have a nice fresh truffle.

So the favourite of gourmets round the world, weighing in at up to 1000€ a kilo, will remain the highly prized luxury it is, whilst kilos go to waste all around us.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.