To go down in truffle history, you need a good story like that of the poor farmer Joseph Talon from Provence, who probably sowed acorns in 1811 to create a forest and then accidentally discovered that this method could be used to grow truffles. Or that of the miller Pierre Mauléon from the Poitou region in western France, who allegedly began deliberate experiments with acorns as early as 1790 in order to increase the truffle yield on his property.

However, new research and close study of the sources show that not every story is true and that some pioneers were not the first at all.

Just seven kilometers from Talon's home town, in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, the chief prosecutor of the parliament of Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Pierre-François Ripert de Monclar, had a park laid out and acorns sown around 1750. A few years later, many truffles were found there, but no one used the knowledge to cultivate truffles. Later, there were no more truffles under the ageing trees.

Talon, on the other hand, planted new cultures. Through a cousin of the same name, knowledge of this "indirect" method of truffle cultivation spread quickly and led to ever larger truffle cultures. However, Talon only became really famous after the truffle dealer Rousseau imitated him with great success in 1847. In 1855, Rousseau received an award for his truffle preserves at the World Exhibition in Paris.