Drum-shaped cheese with a thin natural rind and a fresh, light texture. Almost mousse-like when young, the cheese is salted with delicate fine grains of Fleur de Sel from the Ile de Re, giving the taste a gentleness quite unlike other goat’s cheeses.
To be called “Blue Stilton” the cheese must be made from local pasteurized milk in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire counties. Currently only six dairies are licensed to produce Stilton Cheese. Blue Stilton must be unpressed, allowed to form its own crust, and produced in the traditional cylindrical shape, with blue veins extending from the center and “have a taste profile typical of Stilton”. Blue Stilton is aged for a minimum of nine weeks which creates a semi-soft creamy cheese that gets crumblier as it ages. Blue Stilton gets its distinct blue veins from “penicillium roqueforti” (blue mold spores) created by introducing air into the core of the cheese with stainless steel needles. Blue Stilton provides a milder flavor than both Gorgonzola and Roquefort, and is ideal in soups, salads and dips, dressings and sauces. Sweet wines pair particularly well with Stilton such as Port or a sweet sherry. Blue Stilton is paired with Double Gloucester to make the visually stunning Hunstman cheese. This two British cheeses are layered together to create the ideal flavor combination, perfect in soups or chili or when eaten as a dessert cheese. Blue Stilton, in wheel or crock format, is a very popular Christmas Gift in the UK and the US.
Comté was one of the first few kinds of cheese to receive an AOC (Appellation d’origine controlee) status in 1958. It is one of the most popular AOC cheeses in France with around 40,000 tonnes of annual production. This Millesime version is aged for 36 months !
