The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-18
RARE OLD STIlTON.
Some Information About tho Cheese by
Which Every Englishman Swears.

some Information About tho Cheese BY
Which Every Englishman Swears.
What is the state and what are the
prospects of Stilton? The parish for
merly q market town in the county OF
Huntingdon, which has given its name
to that which was once the ar;stocratic
and gastronomic cheese par excel
lence," has always been a mart for
cheese. The article vended here is
really made in Leicestershire twenty
miles away, whereas Cheddar cheese is
manufactured at the place from which
it takes is designation, although the
inha bitants of the little Somersetshire
town bitterly complain that an "a has
been foisted by modern writers on
the photography of the last sylla-
bic of their home-name, which is
properly ''Chedder." In any case,
it must be admitted that Cheddar or
Chedder, although universally ac-
knowledged to be most toothsome
cheese, has never been coddled and pet.
ted by the superior classes to the eX-
tent which Stilton has enjoyed. Rare
old Stilton" is generally preferred by
epicures when a green mould appears
in its texture. To accelerate this pre-
mature decomposition, pieces of mouldy
cheese are sometimes inserted into
holes made for the purpose with a
scoop; but the best cheeses do not re-
ouire this unhandsome trea tment and
are III perfection when the inside be-
comes as soft as butter, without any
appearance of mouldiness. In making
very rich cheeses it is canon of the
dairy that the whey should be allowed
to run off very slowly, because if it
were forced rapidly it might carry Off
a great deal of the fatty matter of the
cheese itself.
Our fathers, on the other hand, used
to play, on their own account, a great
many fantastic tricks with their rare
old Stiltons. Glasses of port or bur-
gundy We're frequently poured into the
cheese, and sometimes the article was
placed under the tap of u cask of strong
ale, so as to imbibe the droppings
thereof; and there are even cases on
record in which INSCRIPTIONS buffers
have striven to enhance the mouldy as
pect of the cheese by pushing into it
corking-pins of brass or copper, thus
engendering the perilous presence of
verdigris 1t is not quite impossible that
some reason for the decline in the pop
ularity OF Stilton may be due to the cir
cumstance that it was formerly almost
invariab bly, eaten to the accompaniment
of port wine. "a getleman," observed
Beau Brummell, always ports with
his cheese and port wine having gone
to great extent out of fashion since
smoking after dinner became general
at the very best tables, Stilton may
have shared for time in the tempo
rary observation which darkens the
bright chronicle of the vintage of
Oporto. 1t is curious fact. neverthe-
less, that whenever parcel of remark
ably fine port comes on the market 1t IS
at once eagerly purchased, and with
regard to Stilton, who shall say that
there are not yet secluded temples OF
gastronomy whose hoary adopts treat
the fine old cheese with all its tradi-
tional rites, including the moistenings
by means OF port wine and strong ale,
but sternly prohibiting. it is to be
hoped, the reprehensible practice OF
sticking ripeing cheese with corking-
pins?-London telegraph.