The Stilton Cheese Makers' Association
PO Box 384A
KT5 9YL Surbiton, Surrey
Product Authenticaton Inspecorate Ltd (PAI)Rowland
House, 65 High Street, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1DN
Tel: 01903 237799
Fax: 01903 204445
enquiries@thepaigroup.com
Blue veined moulded cheese made in cylindrical form from full cream cow's milk with no added pressure and forming its own crust.
Produced in the Counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
The cheese gained its reputation from being sold at the Bell Inn, a coaching inn, at the town of Stilton on the Great North Road in the early 18th century.
The first literary evidence is in Daniel Defoe's "Tour through England and Wales" published in 1727 where he notes that in 1722 he passed "through Stilton, a town famous for cheese." Stilton was then made in the Melton Mowbray area of Leicestershire and the name has for at least the last 80 years been used in connection only with cheese made in the designated area according to a defined process.
Milk comes from the designated area except in times of shortage when it may come from the surrounding counties of Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Starter cultures, rennet and pènicillium spores are added. Curds are formed which are cut, salted and put into cylindrical cheese moulds. These are turned whilst draining for up to 7 days then removed and the surface of the cheese is sealed. It is matured for up to 6 weeks then pierced repeatedly from side to side allowing air to enter and activate the pènicillium spores. The cheeses are left to ripen, turned regularly and pierced again. Blue Stilton is sold at a minimum of 6 weeks, Mature Blue at a minimum of 10 weeks and Vintage Blue at a minimum of 15 weeks.
