Stilton
Flavour Profile
Rich, creamy, and tangy, with a complex flavour that balances saltiness, sharpness, and a mellow nuttiness.
Firmer and less aggressive than Roquefort, with thick blue-green veins running through a pale yellow body.
Health Benefits
Good source of calcium and protein. Aged blue cheese is very low in lactose.
High in salt and fat, so treat it as a treat rather than a staple.
Buying Tips
Real Blue Stilton is PDO-protected and can only be made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, or Nottinghamshire from pasteurised cow's milk.
Look for a firm, slightly crumbly texture and well-distributed blue veining. Wedges should smell clean and tangy, not ammonia-sharp.
Storage
Wrap in parchment then loosely in foil. Keep in the fridge.
Let it come to room temperature for at least half an hour before serving. Cold Stilton tastes muted.
Cooking Uses
Crumble it into a creamy pasta sauce, melt it onto a steak, or pair it with port and walnuts at the end of a meal.
Classic British use is in a steaming bowl of broccoli and Stilton soup. Works brilliantly in a savoury scone or stirred through mashed potatoes.
Forkin Food Theory
Stilton is never pressed during making. The curd is hand-ladled into hoops and the cheese is turned daily to drain naturally.
That gentle handling leaves small natural air pockets in the body of the cheese — exactly where the blue mould wants to grow when the wheel is later pierced.
Press it too hard and you'd get a dense cheese with no veins. The looseness is the design.
Wild & Wonderful
Stilton has been made since the 1700s, but ironically it can no longer legally be made in the village of Stilton itself — the village is in Cambridgeshire, outside the PDO area.
A campaign is still ongoing to reinstate Stilton-the-village's right to make Stilton-the-cheese.
The village was where it was famously sold to coach travellers on the Great North Road, which is why the name stuck.