“Régal de Renard” is a title that raises questions when it comes to a product made from cow’s milk. But everything is explained and we will do it. At the Frescatis estate in Saint-Antonin-de-Lacalm, the Barraus have been farmer-breeders “for many generations with even a dual activity, that of watchmaker at the time of their grandfather”, confides Marion, cheese farmer and mother of two children. “I had to learn everything because when I met my husband Bernard. I was a calligrapher and I did illumination. It was in the East of France, I am from Nancy”…
“At the beginning, we produced milk which was sold to a cooperative, but the milk crisis in 2018 made us review our organization. That’s when we decided to transform the milk to give more meaning to our work. It was the first step towards a talent now recognized since in 2023 at the World Cheese Competition in Tours (Indre-et-Loire) their production won three medals: Gold for the refined Carré, Silver for the Beaten Chestnut Cream Cheese, Bronze for the Plain Yogurt. A triple recognition that rewards total commitment. First, have healthy animals in order to produce quality milk. To do this, stop silage, feed the animals with barn-dried hay and a mixture of cereals and wheat dregs. Choose rather rustic cows (Simmenthal, Scandinavian Red, Holstein). Then Marion followed training as a cheesemaker organized by the Tarn and Cantal chambers of agriculture. Subsequently, a processing workshop was built on the farm “with quality equipment.”
Marketing began in 2019, and quickly the products, purchased at Domaine Frescatis or on the Wednesday morning market in Réalmont, were appreciated by consumers.
But why “Fox Treat”? “In the Meuse, my great-grandfather was a producer of a famous Brie de Meaux which was a treat, it was called “Brie de Meaux Renard-Gillard, and was a medalist in 1891”, says Marion, showing us the pretty box of Brie from the ancestor So naturally, it clicked in Marion’s mind. It was the name she needed to continue a beautiful family story.
