Past Newsletters

Vol 2 No 1

Colston Bassett Stilton

Eighteenth century travelers encountering their first taste of Stilton cheese must have spread the word of its remarkable, mouth-pleasing flavor. Today, nearly 300 years later, Stilton is still handmade exclusively in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from local milk. Only seven dairies, using the original centuries-old recipe, are licensed to produce the creamy ivory-hued king of cheeses.

Stilton was first made in the early 18^th century in the midlands of England and it takes its name from the village of Stilton ... even though no Stilton was ever made there! The village is located about 70 miles north of London on the Great North Road. It is here that the coaches traveling from London to Scotland and other northern cities made their first stop for fresh horses and overnight stays. Convenient to Melton Mowbray and the surrounding area, the village Stilton became the center market place for the cheese, and thousands were sold every week. So the blue cheese one would buy in Stilton became known as Stilton Cheese.

Drink a pot of ale, eat a scoop of Stilton, every day, and you will make ‘old bones’ Nineteenth Century saying Wymondham

According to Trevor Hickman, resident of Wymondham in East Leicestershire and a Stilton historian, the background of the cheese is somewhat cloudy. A blue-veined cow’s milk cream cheese was produced by farmers at Wymondham as soon as pastures were enclosed, but the first written reference to Stilton cheese was in 1722. Other references made about the same time clearly indicate that Stilton was very popular even then.

Frances Pawlett, a skilled Wymondham cheese maker, is credited for creating the quality and shape standards for Stilton Cheese. Her skill at cheese making and her husband’s business acumen led to the first marketing cooperative in the area for Stilton Cheese. All other cheese makers had to meet these standards for blued cream cheese in order to market their cheeses under the name of Stilton. Along with the help of Cooper Thornhill, owner of the famous Bell Inn of Stilton, the Pawletts helped build the trade in Stilton cheese to record levels.

Today Stilton is made much the same way as it was in the 1700’s. In 1936 an organization, The Stilton Cheese Makers Association, was formed to maintain the quality standards and protect the trademark of Stilton. This means authorized creameries can only make true Stilton, operating only in the three counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The seven creameries that are authorized to make Stilton make over a million cheeses a year.

The Birth of the Blues

Blue cheese, I’m sure, was originally an accident. As the story goes... a shepherd accidentally left his lunch of fresh cheese (Roquefort, which is now one of the most famous French blue cheeses) and Rye bread sitting in a cave, while he took off in pursuit of a beautiful young girl. He must have gotten lucky, because he didn’t came back for his cheese and Rye. A few weeks later when he had forgotten to bring his lunch (no doubt he had been day dreaming about you know who), he returned to the cave, expecting to find dried up bread and cheese... but still nourishing. He discovered the cheese had grown a covering of blue green stuff. Now, the shepherd was exceedingly hungry, so he closed his eyes and bit off a small piece. To his astonishment the cheese tasted delicious, if fact it was far superior to the cheese he had left behind in the cave!

Whether that story depicts the real way blue cheese came about... well, I’ll leave that to you to decide. Personally, I can’t quite work out why a girl would be wondering about in the middle of nowhere?

Please make me aware if you know of a more likely story. Just go to our website www.cheesemonthclub.com and click on Ask Jude, then you can send me an email.

 

Before the machines, nine-inch knitting needles pierced the cheeses... the machines are only twice as fast!

But seriously, there can be no disputing how mouth watering and exceptionally delectable blue cheese is. Do I hear a few groans of disagreement? Actually, there are a lot of people who think they dislike blue cheese. And believe it or not, I too, used to agree with them... until I was introduced to Colston Bassett Stilton. Most Stilton cheese sold in this country is dry, sharp and very acidic. Why? The main reason is, it is sold too young. Stilton needs to be matured to allow the mold which creates the distinctive flavors to develop. The best Stilton will be creamy, with a subtle yeasty sweetness, and a salty nut finish. In fact, the way you tell the quality of your Stilton is by how creamy it is, not by how blue it is.

So how does the cheese get blue? The basic recipe for blue cheese starts out like any other cheese. The difference is that mold spores are added to the milk during the cheesemaking process.

Since mold needs air to grow , the cheeses are pierced when they are about 6 weeks old. Quite literally, the cheese is pierced evenly all around its’ circumference, from top to bottom

At Colston Basset, the piercing was originally done using a nine-inch knitting needle. Nowadays they use a machine which surprisingly does the job only twice as fast as the knitting needle method!

The pierced cheese is then left in a maturing room where the magic of "bluing" begins. The air enters the cheese and the mold spores begin to grow slowly until the interior of the cheese is butter-like in texture.

Air... without it there is no life as we know it. Not only do we all need it to live, but also, air is an extraordinary medium for maturing and discreetly differentiating cheeses. Because air picks up local bacteria, mold spores, aromas, moistures, and the like, the local air distinguishes the flavors of maturing cheeses.

So just as a sourdough bread starter imparts unique and indigenous flavors to bread, so does air to blue cheese. If you made Stilton in another country using exactly the same recipe, it would turn out basically the same in texture, but the flavors would be different because the air is different.

Presenting

Colston Bassett

To experience Colston Bassett Stilton at it’s best, allow the cheese to come to room temperature before serving. If you serve it too cold, the flavor will be very blunt and overly salty. We would recommend full bodied sweet wines like Taylor’s Tawny Port, Australian Liquer Muscats, and in particular Chateau Grand Traverse Ice Wine from Michigan. Red wines that work well with Stilton are South Australian Shiraz, mature red Bordeaux and a subdued Calirfornia Cabernet.

Camembert Village Famous for its Cheese!

Camembert is a small village in the province of Normandy, in northwestern France. Set on a hill, overlooking the trout-filled Viette river, the village consist of half-timbered dwellings clustered around a church. The origins of the village date back to the Dark Ages... well before the Norman invasion of England!

It has 185 inhabitants according to the last census

Legend has it that Marie Harel, an inhabitant of Camembert, invented this wonderful cheese... with a little bit of help, that is.

During the French Revolution all Roman Catholic priests in France were forced to swear allegiance to the newborn republic, or else be executed. Some fled and hid in the countryside, and in 1790, Father Charles-Jean Bonvoust, a Roman Catholic priest, sought refuge with Marie at her farm. He came from the Brie, a region near Paris famous for its cheeses. In return for the shelter she offered him, he gave Marie the "secret" recipe for Camembert.

Of course there is some controversy as to who invented the cheese since the region had been famous for its cheeses since at least 1681, well before the birth of Marie Harel in 1761! Marie probably just improved the recipe using the advice of Charles-Jean Bonvoust. So still the mystery of who invented Camembert remains, and until someone else steps forward, Marie gets the credit in the town of Camembert.

The Secrets of Camembert

Traditional Camembert is made from the fresh raw milk of Norman cows, which is high in fat and very rich in proteins and vitamins. (Unfortunately US law only allows us to import pasteurized Camembert.) The milk is heated and poured into large vats. A natural rennet is added and once the curds have formed, they are ladled carefully so they won’t break, into individual cheese molds. When the cheeses have drained sufficiently, they are turned over. On the second day, the cheeses are removed from the moulds and taken to the salting room. Here dry salt is shaken onto all surfaces of each cheese. On the third day, the cheeses are placed in the drying room, where the mold rind forms. The ripening period is approximately twelve days, depending on the season, after which the cheeses are ready for packing. Once packed in their distinctive boxes, they are aged for another four or five days before being sent to market.

The flavor of Camembert is definitely the main reason for its worldwide popularity, but we cannot talk about Camembert without mentioning the distinctive Camembert box. Originally Camembert was sold in straw cases. Toward the end of the 19^th century, railways and steamboats spread all over Europe, and this created new opportunities for Camembert to be sold throughout France and abroad.

One of Marie’s daughters presented Camembert to Napoleon

Unfortunately the straw case style of packing did not protect the cheese for long journeys. In the town of "Le Havre" around 1890, a French cheese exporter, M. Rousset, decided to use spruce wood boxes similar to those used for other French. Around the same time, Eugène Ridel, created a "nailed and stapled" circular poplar wood box... an instant hit, and now a famous tradition.

Open the lid on your Camembert box, and you will notice immediately an aroma of mushrooms with a subtle braised cabbage undertone. These two aromas are the quintessential elements of true Camembert. The rind is an ivory white with red flecks through it, and if you stroke the cheese you will feel the downy texture of the penicillin rind. The rind is essential to create Camembert... as the mold rind grows around the cheese it sends out microscopic roots (rhizomes), and it is these roots, working from the outside in, that turn the texture from chalky to voluptuously soft and gooey.

Annually over 43 million Camemberts are made under the AOC label...a guarantee of its quality

It’s a personal choice as to whether you eat the rind or not... eating the rind will intensify the flavor and give you an added dimension in texture. The Camembert you have received is perfectly ripe. If you ever see Camembert with a thick chalky center, the rind did not complete the ripening process. As with most cheeses, the flavor becomes more intense as the cheese ripens. Once ripe, Camembert should be eaten within 5-7 days.

Exceptional Antique Emmental

The Swiss make a lot of cheese! And they make a lot of cheese very well. Cheese has long been a staple of the Swiss diet.... a fact that’s hardly surprising in a nation where, until recent times, dairy cows outnumbered people. In The Swiss Cookbook, Nika Standen Hazelton writes:

Cheese was a standard food as early as in the 13th and 14th Centuries. The early cheeses were simple products made from soured milk, such as cottage cheese. The solid, lasting cheeses that we know as Swiss cheeses turned up in the 15th Century, when the Swiss served travelers and soldiers... on of the first convenience foods.

Emmental is probably the best example of this phenomenon, and a real window into the insight, ingenuity and willpower of the Swiss. Faced with a huge demand for their cheese, they could have easily consolidated operations, built huge factories and churned out the giant wheels at a quick clip. They didn’t. Instead, Swiss cheese is made in over 1,500 small dairies lining the Emme valley. Each dairy makes a wheel or two of strictly controlled, raw milk cheese, under the watchful eye of the ever important Swiss Cheese Association.

It takes 1 ½ tons of milk to make 1 wheel of Emmental 220 lbs of cheese!

This allows for more careful, hands-on cheesemaking with higher overall quality. With the high prices of fuel, the Swiss Cheese Association, thought it made more sense to move the milk short distances to make the cheese, then truck the wheels. The fact that the Swiss built an organization around these two principals: hands-on quality cheesemaking and finely honed economics, is as illuminating as any anecdote I know. And one I keep close at hand to remind me where these folks are coming from.

Real Swiss cheese, (watch out, there’s an ocean of imitators) is never harsh or bitter. And I notice with this piece of Antique Emmental, that the smoothness is even more pronounced. Its normal intense, sweet nuttiness has mellowed, leaving a long, swelling feeling of warmth in your mouth. This is good stuff! It’s well over 12 months old. Most Emmental is less than 6 months old. If you’re lucky, you may find some older!

A Scrumptious Appetizer

1 lb wheel Camembert
6 tblsp minced sundried tomatoes, rehydrated
1 clove garlic, minced
6 tablespoons of soft Camembert
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts

Chill the cheese, and slice it in half like a bagel. Remove about 6 tblsp by slicing pieces from both halves. Soften pieces. Mix the tomatoes and garlic together, then add the softened cheese and nuts. Add a green herb to the mixture for the Holiday Season.

Spread the mixture on the bottom Camembert layer, press the top layer down and clean up the edges. Refrigerate. To serve, let the cheese come to room temperature.

 

Camembert Cheese and Ham Tarts

Cut 4 ounces of Camembert into small pieces. Add 1 cup ground cooked ham, 1/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts), and sufficient chili sauce to bind. Blend mixture and fill prebaked miniature tart shells. Heat in moderate oven (325 degrees) and garnish with parsley. Makes 22-24 tarts.

Incredible Edibles

Pasta Melt a little butter and garlic, add some fresh cream and crumbled Stilton. Heat gently without boiling then stir in a little brandy and pour over your favorite pasta. Or if you’re in a hurry, just put your favorite pasta in a large bowl and add crumbled Stilton. Stir until melted.

Pastry Place slices of Stilton on 3 or 4 layers of filo pastry. Fold into neat parcels and cook in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes.

Potatoes Stilton is a delicious filling for baked potatoes. Mix with the mashed potato or crumble on top.