Stilton cheese

Stiltonis anEnglishcheese, produced in two varieties:blue, which hasPenicillium roquefortiadded to generate a characteristic smell and taste, and white, which does not. Both have been granted the status of aprotected designation of origin(PDO) by theEuropean Commission, requiring that only such cheese produced in the three counties ofDerbyshire,LeicestershireandNottinghamshiremay be called Stilton. The cheese takes its name from the village ofStilton, now inCambridgeshire, where it has long been sold, but cannot be made because it is not in one of the three permitted counties.
Frances Pawlett (or Paulet), a cheesemaker ofWymondham, Leicestershire, has traditionally been credited with setting up the modern Stilton cheese shape and style in the 1720s,but others have also been named.Early 19th-century research published by William Marshall provides logic and oral history to indicate a continuum between the locally produced cheese of Stilton, and the later development of a high turnover commercial industry importing cheese produced elsewhere, under local guidance.A recipe for a Stilton cheese was published in 1726 byRichard Bradley, later firstProfessor of Botany at Cambridge University.
Another early printed reference to Stilton cheese came fromWilliam Stukeleyin 1722.Daniel Defoein his 1724 workA Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britainnotes, "We pass'd Stilton, a town famous for cheese, which is call'd our EnglishParmesan, and is brought to table with themitesormaggotsround it, so thick, that they bring a spoon with them for you to eat the mites with, as you do the cheese."
According to the Stilton Cheesemaker's Association, the first person to market Blue Stilton cheese was Cooper Thornhill, owner of theBell Innon theGreat North Road, in the village ofStilton,Huntingdonshire,(now an administrative district of Cambridgeshire). Tradition has it that in 1730, Thornhill discovered a distinctive blue cheese while visiting a small farm nearMelton Mowbrayin rural Leicestershire – possibly Wymondham.He fell in love with the cheese and made a business arrangement that granted theBell Innexclusive marketing rights to Blue Stilton. Soon thereafter, wagonloads of cheese were being delivered there. The village stood on the Great North Road, a mainstagecoachroute between London andNorthern England, so that Thornhill could promote sales and the fame of Stilton spread rapidly.
In 1936 the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association (SCMA) was formed to lobby for regulation to protect the quality and origin of the cheese. In 1966 Stilton was granted legal protection via a certificationtrade mark, the onlyBritish cheeseto have received that status.
While Stilton was originally made from raw milk, production switched over topasteurisedmilk after a health scare in the late 1980s. Since Stilton gainedprotected designation of originstatus in 1996, cheese made from raw milk can no longer be sold under the Stilton name.
Blue Stilton's distinctive blue veins are created by piercing the crust of the cheese with stainless steel needles, allowing air into the core. The manufacturing and ripening process takes some nine to twelve weeks.
For cheese to use the name "Stilton", it must be made in one of the threecountiesofDerbyshire,LeicestershireandNottinghamshireand usepasteurisedlocal milk. Manufacturers of Stilton in these counties receivedprotection under European Lawas aprotected designation of origin(PDO) in 1996. The cheese remains protected by its PDO even afterBrexit, under EU law (in the EU and Northern Ireland) and under UK law (England, Scotland and Wales).
By September 2016, just sixdairieswere licensed to make Stilton – three in Leicestershire, two in Nottinghamshire, and one in Derbyshire– each being subject to regular audit by an independent inspection agency accredited to European Standard EN 45011. Four of the licensed dairies are based in theVale of Belvoir, which straddles the Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire/Lincolnshire borders. This area is commonly seen as the heartland of Stilton production, with dairies located in the town ofMelton Mowbrayand the villages ofColston Bassett,Cropwell Bishop,Long ClawsonandSaxelbye. Another Leicestershire dairy was in the grounds ofQuenby Hallnear the village ofHungarton, outside the generally accepted boundaries of the Vale of Belvoir. Quenby Hall restarted Stilton production in a new dairy in August 2005 (the old dairy dated back to the 18th century) but the business folded in 2011.
Stilton cheese has been made in Derbyshire since 1900, originally atHartington.The former Dairy Crest-owned licensed dairy that produced the product at Hartington was acquired by the Long Clawson dairy in 2008 and closed in 2009, with its production transferred to Leicestershire. Two former employees set up the Hartington Creamery atPikehallin Hartington parish, which was licensed in 2014. Three additional partners soon joined them and this business is the smallest of the six companies licensed to make Stilton.As of March 2021, Hartington Stilton was marketing within the UK but also exporting to the US and to the EU; it had just started exporting to Canada. The company director told the BBC that they had "a surge in interest and consumer sales from the US" but it had to stop sales to the European Union followingBrexitbecause of the cost of a veterinary surgeon certificate.
Stilton cheese cannot be made in Stilton village, which gave the cheese its name,because it is not in any of the three permitted counties, but rather in the administrative county ofCambridgeshireand the historic county ofHuntingdonshire. The Original Cheese Company applied to Defra to amend the Stilton PDO to include the village, but the application was rejected in 2013.
Stilton cheese was also manufactured inStaffordshire. The Nuttall family ofBeeby, Leicestershire opened a Stilton cheese factory inUttoxeterin 1892 to take advantage of the local milk and good transport links. However, this firm did not last long and the site became a general dairy.
To be labelled as "Blue Stilton" in the EU, a cheese must:
In the event of a local milk shortage, milk can instead be sourced from the surrounding counties ofCambridgeshire,Northamptonshire,Warwickshire,Staffordshire,Greater Manchester,Cheshire,Yorkshire, orLincolnshire.
On average, finished Stilton cheese has a typical fat content of 35% and protein content of 23%.
A number ofblue cheesesare made in a similar way to Blue Stilton. These gain their blue veins and distinct flavour from the use of one or moresaprotrophicfungi, such asPenicillium roquefortiandPenicillium glaucum. Since the PDO came into effect, some British supermarkets have stocked a generic "British Blue cheese". Other makers have adopted their own names and styles. Other typical British blue cheeses areOxford BlueandShropshire Blue.Sticheltonis an English blue cheese virtually identical to Blue Stilton, but because it does not use pasteurised milk it cannot legally be called Stilton,due its PDO status.
Many countries have blue cheeses. Italy, for example, has greenish blueGorgonzolamade from cow's milk. France has blue cheeses such asFourme d'AmbertfromAuvergne, made with cow's milk, andRoquefort, made with ewe's milk. Denmark producesDanish Blue Cheese. Some of the many cheeses in the Netherlands are blue, such as Ruscello.
Blue Stilton is often eaten withceleryor pears. It is commonly added as a flavouring to vegetablesoup, notably to cream of celery orbroccoli.It is otherwise eaten with various crackers, biscuits or bread. It can be used to make a blue cheese sauce to be served drizzled over a steak, or the cheese can be crumbled over a salad. Traditionally, abarley wineorportis paired with Blue Stilton, but it also goes well withsweet sherryorMadeira wine. The practice of scooping a hollow in the centre of a Stilton cheese and pouring port wine into it is deprecated; nonetheless this combination has been marketed in screw-topped tubes "like toothpaste".The cheese is traditionally eaten at Christmas.The rind of the cheese forms naturally during the aging process and is edible, unlike the rind of some other cheeses, such asEdam.
White Stilton has not had thePenicillium roquefortimould introduced into it, which would otherwise lead to the blue veining normally associated with Stilton. It is a crumbly, creamy, open-textured cheese now extensively used as a base for blending with apricot, ginger and citrus or vine fruits to create dessert cheeses and has also been used as a flavouring for chocolate.
Huntsman cheeseis made with both Blue Stilton andDouble Gloucester.
English authorG. K. Chestertonwrote several essays on cheese, specifically on the absence of cheese in art. In one of these he recalls a time when he happened to visit a small town in thefenlandsof England, which turned out to be Stilton. His experience in Stilton left a deep impression on him, which he expressed through poetry in his "Sonnet to a Stilton Cheese":
This is in part a parody ofWilliam Wordsworth's sonnet "London, 1802", the opening line of which was "Milton!thou shouldst be living at this hour."
George Orwellwrote an essay, "In Defence of English Cooking", first published in theEvening Standardon 15 December 1945. While enumerating the high points ofBritish cuisine, he touches on Stilton: "Then there are the English cheeses. There are not many of them, but I fancy that Stilton is the best cheese of its type in the world, withWensleydalenot far behind."
The Stilton Cheese Makers Association produced a fragrance calledEau de Stilton, which was "very different to the very sweet perfumes you smell wafting down the street as someone walks past you."
The search for an unpasteurised Stilton cheese was a plot element of aChef!episodetitled "The Big Cheese", aired onBBC1on 25 February 1993.
A character namedG. D'Arcy "Stilton" Cheesewrightappears in several of the Jeeves novels ofP. G. Wodehouse.