Description
The Blue Stilton Cheese PDO and White Stilton Cheese PDO are produced with cows' milk. The first is a blue veined cheese and the second is a soft paste cheese.
Production Area
Blue Stilton Cheese PDO and White Stilton Cheese PDO can only be made in the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England.
Production Method
To make Blue Stilton Cheese PDO once the milk has been pasteurised, bacteria, rennet and Penicillium roqueforti is added to it. After the curd has formed it is cut, the whey is drained off and it is left to rest over night. The following day it is cut into blocks to facilitate draining and salted and milled. The salted milled curd is then placed in cylindrical moulds and turned daily for five or six days. The cheeses are removed from the moulds, the coats rubbed and smoothed to remove any cracks and moved to maturing rooms. A natural skin forms on the cheese after approximately six weeks and this is when they are pierced from side to side with special stainless steel needles to activate the formation of the characteristic blue veins inside the cheese. The cheeses are lastly left to ripen during which time they are regularly turned and pierced once again. For the production of White Stilton Cheese PDO on the other hand the milk is coagulated with lactic acids and rennet. The resulting curd is cut into small pieces, salted and placed in moulds where it is left for at least seven days. The moulds are turned regularly so that the cheese dries out and a natural skin forms. The cheeses are then removed from the moulds and packed.
Appearance and Flavour
Blue Stilton Cheese PDO and White Stilton Cheese PDO are cylindrical, soft paste, spreadable cheeses. The first has typical blue veining which radiate out from the centre of the cheese, the second has a cream coloured paste. They both have a creamy, soft consistency and Blue Stilton Cheese PDO has a very strong and distinctive flavour. White Stilton Cheese PDO has a well rounded taste and is crumbly
History
Until recently it was believed that Stilton cheese had never been made in the town of Stilton but became known as such because the owner of a famous coaching house in the town, The Bell Inn, sold it to his guests. However, recent research has revealed that a cheese called Stilton was made in the village in the early parts of the 18th century but this was a very different cheese to the one we know today - it was a pressed cream cheese. Daniel Defoe referred to the town as being famous for cheese in his book Tour through England & Wales. It is still a matter of conjecture as to how the cheese evolved into the unpressed blue veined cheese then made in Leicestershire from around 1745 and subsequently in other parts of the East Midlands.
Gastronomy
Blue Stilton Cheese PDO and White Stilton Cheese PDO should be stored in the refrigerator wrapped in aluminium foil. They can also be successfully frozen and kept in the freezer for up to three months if wrapped in foil or film. To defrost, it should be moved to the fridge overnight and then left at room temperature before serving. Blue Stilton Cheese PDO is excellent eaten with crackers or toast and is a versatile and easy to use ingredient in many hors d'oeuvres and main courses and an enriching, refined and distinctive addition to the simplest of dishes. It also goes well with any kind of wine. White Stilton Cheese PDO, apart from being eaten as a starter or for enriching first courses, is often used as an ingredient with apricots, ginger, lemons or grapes in the preparation of traditional cheese desserts. It is recommended with dry wines and, depending on what the cheese is being eaten with, even with sweet wines or Champagne.
Marketing
These cheeses are sold as Blue Stilton Cheese PDO (matured for at least six weeks), Blue Stilton Mature Blue PDO (matured for 10 weeks), Blue Stilton Cheese Vintage Blue PDO (matured for 15 weeks) and White Stilton Cheese PDO (no blue veins). They are sold whole or in cuts of various weights.
Distinctive Features
Blue Stilton Cheese PDO is the most famous of British cheeses and is only made by six cheese makers in the whole world. White Stilton Cheese PDO too is only made with milk from the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and milk may only be obtained from bordering counties in times of shortage.
