Stilton (cheese)

Stilton is a cheese of England. It is produced in two varieties: the well-known blue and the lesser-known white. Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of origin by the European Commission. Only cheese produced in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire – and made according to a strict code – may be called "Stilton".

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History

The pioneer of blue Stilton was Cooper Thornhill, owner of the Bell Inn on the Great North Road, in the village of Stilton. In 1730, Thornhill discovered a distinctive blue cheese while visiting a small farm in rural Leicestershire - probably Quenby Hall in Hungarton. He fell in love with the cheese and made a business arrangement that granted the Bell Inn exclusive marketing rights to blue Stilton. Soon thereafter, wagon loads of cheese were being delivered to the inn. Since the main stagecoach routes from London to Northern England passed through the village of Stilton he was able to promote the sale of this cheese and the legend of Stilton rapidly spread.

Manufacture and PDO status

Ironically, Stilton cheese cannot legally be made in the village that gave the cheese its name. Stilton cheese was never made in the village of Stilton. Stilton village is now in Cambridgeshire, in the former county of Huntingdonshire. There are currently just eight dairies licensed to make Stilton, each being subject to regular audit by an independent inspection agency accredited to European Standard EN 45011. At present, all but one of the licensed dairies are based in the Vale of Belvoir, which straddles the Nottinghamshire-Leicestershire border. This area is commonly regarded as the heartland of Stilton production, with dairies located in the town of Melton Mowbray and the villages of Colston Bassett, Cropwell Bishop, Hungarton,Long Clawson and Saxelbye. The only current dairy producing Stilton elsewhere (at Hartington in Derbyshire) owes this fact to a native of the Vale who bought the dairy over a century ago.

To be called blue Stilton, a cheese must:

• Be made only in the three counties from local milk, which is pasteurised before use.
• Be made only in a traditional cylindrical shape.
• Be allowed to form its own crust or coat.
• Be unpressed.
• Have delicate blue veins radiating from the centre.
• Have a "taste profile typical of Stilton".

Stilton has a typical fat content of ~35%, and protein content of ~23%. Danish Blue is made in a similar way to Stilton and also possesses the distinctive blue veins. Stichelton is a very similar cheese, but is made with unpasteurised milk.

Stilton consumption

  Blue Stilton is often eaten with celery. It is also commonly added as a flavouring to vegetable soup, most notably to cream of celery or broccoli. Alternatively it is eaten with various crackers, biscuits and bread. Traditionally, port is drunk with blue Stilton. The cheese is traditionally eaten at Christmas, leading to an advertising campaign in the 1990s, in which the late George Melly (in March) said "it's traditional to eat Stilton at Christmas", before eating some stilton and announcing "Merry Christmas".^{[citation needed]}

White Stilton has not had the Penicillium roqueforti mold introduced into it which would otherwise lead to the blue veining normally associated with Stilton. It is often blended with other materials, such as chocolate^{[citation needed]} or dried fruit. Otherwise it is often served with fruit cake.

Huntsman cheese is made with both blue Stilton and Double Gloucester.

Bizarre dreams

A 2005 study carried out by the British Cheese Board discovered that when it came to dream types, Stilton cheese seemed to cause odd dreams, with 75% of men and 85% of women experiencing bizarre and vivid dreams after eating a 20g piece of the cheese 30 minutes before going to sleep. ^[1]

Stilton in poetry

Well known British author G. K. Chesterton wrote a couple of essays on cheese, specifically on the absence of cheese in art. In one of his essays he recalls a time when he, by chance, visited a small town in the fenlands of 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:

Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby; England has need of thee, and so have I-- She is a Fen. Far as the eye can scour, League after grassy league from Lincoln tower To Stilton in the fields, she is a Fen. Yet this high cheese, by choice of fenland men, Like a tall green volcano rose in power. Plain living and long drinking are no more, And pure religion reading "Household Words", And sturdy manhood sitting still all day Shrink, like this cheese that crumbles to its core; While my digestion, like the House of Lords, The heaviest burdens on herself doth lay.

- G.K. Chesterton

This is in part a parody of Wordsworth's sonnet London, 1802, opening line: Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour.

References