From December to March, the Tuber melanosporum perfumes the aisles of Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. A meeting with winter's most precious treasure.
A single scent, dense, woody, intoxicating, is all it takes to know the season has arrived. From December to March, the black truffle, the famous Tuber melanosporum, takes up its winter quarters at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. On the stalls, these nuggets veined with white at their heart are displayed like jewels. Brillat-Savarin already called it "the diamond of the kitchen": at Les Halles, the expression takes on its full meaning.
The "belly of Lyon" lies at the crossroads of France's finest truffle grounds. A few hours from the city, the Tricastin and the popes' enclave, around Richerenches, alone account for a large share of the national harvest, while the Périgord brings its centuries-old nobility. It is this exceptional terroir that supplies the Lyon counters, as close as possible to the freshness of the truffle hunter's basket.
At Les Halles, passionate houses have made it their signature. At Passionnément Truffes, in the heart of the market, the winter black truffle sits alongside the delicate white truffle of Alba, in a true gastronomic showcase. Here, they advise, they let you smell, they tell the story. For a truffle is chosen by its aroma and its firmness, and every customer leaves with a little of this knowledge passed down from season to season.
Then comes the best part: the cooking. Grated over scrambled eggs, slipped under the skin of a Bresse poultry, melted into a creamy risotto or simply laid on a strip of buttered bread, it transfigures the simplest of dishes. This is the very spirit of Lyon, world capital of gastronomy: to celebrate a rare product with an unaffected generosity. For the length of a winter, the black diamond reigns over Les Halles.