page_title: Melton Mowbray
section_title: Melton Mowbray produce
hierarchical_section_title: Melton Mowbray / Melton Mowbray produce
context_page_description: Melton Mowbray is a town in Leicestershire, England, 19 miles north-east of Leicester, and 20 miles south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the Rivers Eye which changes name below Melton Mowbray to the Wreake. The town has a population of 25,554. It is known for a culinary speciality, the Melton Mowbray pork pie, and as the location of one of the six licensed makers of Stilton cheese. This has led to it being promoted as Britain's "Rural Capital of Food".
context_section_description: Stilton cheese originated through a commercial venture developed to manufacture cheese for retail sale at the village of Stilton in Cambridgeshire, which has led to some claims that the cheese itself originated outside that village. Historical evidence would suggest an evolution of the form of the cheese over many years, with some sourced from Melton Mowbray or surroundings. Stilton is still made in the town at the Tuxford & Tebbutt creamery, one of only six dairies licensed to do so, while makers in Cambridgeshire are ironically prohibited from naming their own cheese Stilton, even if it is in fact made there. The earliest reference cited is Daniel Defoe, who in 1724 called the Stilton-produced cheese, the English Parmesan. Growth of business due to travellers on the Great North Road, as well as sale into London, led to a need to source additional cheese from further afield, including the region of Melton Mowbray, and over time the modern blue cheese developed.
  Melton Mowbray pork pies are made by a specific "hand-raising" process and recipe. On 4 April 2008 the European Union awarded the Melton Mowbray pork pie Protected Geographical Indication status, after a long-standing application made by the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association. As a result, pies made only within a designated zone around Melton using uncured pork are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray name on their packaging.
  Melton Mowbray is home to Melton cloth (first mentioned in 1823), a tightly woven woollen fabric, heavily milled with a nap raised to form a short, dense, non-lustrous pile. Sailors' pea coats are traditionally made of Melton cloth, as are the commonly worn workmen's donkey jackets of Britain and Ireland, and loggers' "cruising jackets" and Mackinaws in North America.
caption: The round corner of a blue Stilton cheese, made in the traditional cylindrical shape.
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