Truffole, the Ardèche potato

Truffole sister of tartifle and cartoufle

Here are some funny names, we give you a hint: we eat them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday too and Friday again and Sunday with butter! It is the potatoe, obviously, the potato. 

And although we say it!  Potato in Europe was cultivated for the first time in France in a small Ardèche village in 1540. Saint-Alban-d'Ay exactly where not only is it still cultivated but we honor it, we defend it, we are proud of it and we sublimate it in all its forms

Terroir history

Truffole comes from the patois “las Trifòlas”, the plant producing the potato tubers that are initially compared to truffles. Okay the taste is not the same but frankly whether it is called potato, truffole, kartoffeln, potato or tartifle it remains unavoidable, as evidenced by the number of pages devoted to it in their works by starred chefs. It is gastronomic, and if it comes in a multitude of varieties, Régis Marcon is not the last to acclaim its Ardèche origin.

An ugly duckling

She didn't like this potato very much at first, we used it to feed the pigs. One day, Parmentier the kitchen to meet times of scarcity. It is still not unanimous, yet it is credited with virtues for the convalescence of the sick. Finally we ask the French to plant more to feed the soldiers during the war and it will end up making the buzz with the french fries. Cock-a-doodle Doo ! The fries are beautiful and very French and we do not joke with that! 

Here is what Charles du FAURE de SAINT-SYLVESTRE wrote, “La Truffole en France” in 1785.

 The potato, known as truffole, it was around 1540, in our Haut-Vivarais, on the territory of the village of Saint-Alban d'Ay, three leagues from Annonay, that this tuber was sown for the first time in the Kingdom, having been imported by a Franciscan monk from Toledo in Spain, named Pierre Sornas, who at a very old age had retired to his family “…