Originally to produce Comte it needed a Fruitiere. It was the workshop where the producers gathered their milk to make it fructify into in Comte . Always as a cooperative, this original form of village level organization was born 8 centuries ago. In fact, the climate and harsh winters had led farmers in the region to team up to make a large cheese to keep their milk. These values of solidarity and sharing were never abandoned. Today there are more than 150 "fruitiere" (the small Comte workshop) distributed throughout the Jura mountains, which are as diverse as the taste of the Comte they produce!
 
The method of making Comte has not changed for centuries. The goal is to obtain a custard cheese of large size and slightly wet, with a cooked and pressed texture, while preserving the natural flora of raw milk, a source of rich taste. Comte is made only from Montbeliarde cow's milk. Every morning, in its "fruitiere", the cheese-maker heats the milk in large copper vats and lets it "ripen". Then come the renneting of the milk and the slicing of the curd. After a gradual heating, the contents of the tank are poured into perforated molds that let the whey flow and collect the curd. After placing on the heel of each cheese a green casein plate that indicates the date and place of manufacture, the cheese maker puts the molds in a press. The cheeses are then demolded and taken to the cellar where the pre-ripening begins. Young cheeses, kept between 10 and 15 degrees C for 3 weeks, receive daily care (salting, rubbing and turning). They then leave for a long stay in one of the 2 maturing places of the Marcel Petite House: Fort Saint-Antoine or the Caves of Granges-Narboz.
 
At 1100 meters above sea level, Fort Saint-Antoine, a former military fort, is a unique place that allows slowly refining the Comte. Like cellar masters of fine wines, cellar masters Marcel Petite subtly drive the ripening of the Comte by seeking their best expression. Working with Marcel Petite cheeses is a guarantee of quality. They do a real job of selecting their producers but also their customers.