Black truffles

Quercy (the area around Cahors) is home to the Périgord black truffle.  Today is officially the first day of the truffle season. Never mind that a six-figure sum was paid last week for a white truffle in Italy. Never mind that truffles are now grown in Australia and the Pacific North West of America (maybe even in China). There are many varieties of truffle, black and white, hard and soft, but the elusive local ones are especially prized and are expected to continue to fetch ridiculous prices. The higher the awareness of truffles, the higher the price for the real thing, it seems. May the bubble never burst.