The Stilton Process

[wheels]

I'm not yet making cheese but came across an interesting web page that may be of interest on the Cropwell Bishop Stilton Website

It details the whole production process from milk to cheese.

Phil

[BlueCheese]

I thingk they had some flash vids on their that I dl, also if anyone is interested I posted a clip about Stilton on utube "fishguy" dont recall the link.

[wheels]

-conv-

[jenny_haddow]

Thanks for that Phil, I was interested to see they use vegetarian rennet for their cheese.

One spin off from having rotten weather this summer is I've been able to carry on making cheese a lot longer. I've just taken a Lancashire out of the press.

Jen

[BlueCheese]

havent been able to make cheese all month, its 36c right now, everything melting.

[wheels]

The thing that amazes me about the process is how the cheese is 'rubbed up' so that it matures as a white cheese for most of the time, with the air to create the blue viens only 'allowed in' towards the end of the maturing period.
I've not seen this in the recipes here. Is there a reason why it's not done when producing 'stilton' at home?

Phil

[saucisson]

It is:

MAKING A STILTON CHEESE.

Snip:


The outer rind will go all colours during the next week or so but will settle for an orangey brown after three weeks or so.

On the fourth week take a sterilized knitting needle and pierce the cheese repeatedly to the centre only all around.

Do this again at six weeks, through the same hole if you can. This lets the air get inside the cheese for the blue veining, it now has it�s own immune system.

Dave

[jenny_haddow]

Somewhere in the LONG King Blue Stilton thread Rik talks about coating the outside of the cheese with some of the left over curds after it comes out of the mold. I've never done this as I have never had any curds left over. Also Rik's recipe calls for pressing the cheese, which is not traditional, but produces a good cheese none the less in the confines of the kitchen. I think we home producers get the best we can from what we have at hand, so compromise if often inevitable. However we do have the satisfaction of knowing that we made it ourselves.

Cheers

Jen

[wheels]

Many thanks both

I assume that the fact that it's pressed removes the need for the rubbing up.
I'd missed the bit about 4 weeks, oops.

Phil

[Mike D]

I had to bin my first effort at Stilton today.....just didn't go right at all and the smell was horrendous. It was about three weeks old.

I'm not sure what went wrong, as I followed Riks Stilton recipe to the letter. I'll do a bit more reading methinks before trying again.

[BlueCheese]

what was wrong with it, ammonia smell ?

[Mike D]

Hi Blue Cheese,

I wouldn't really say ammonia smell, it just smelled really bad, not at all like a Stilton, and if anything appeared a little slimy - I didn't touch it at all, and it didn't seem to develop the usual "stilton" type rind on it. When I compared it to the pictures of other Stiltons at various stages of the process it wasn't even taking on the blue veining at the beginning, so I did suspect something early on, but just left it to monitor the process.

I will try again this week, but one question; what temperature do I keep it at to mature? I suspect mine had too much variation.

I should have took some photo's

[saucisson]

Ideally 45 to 55 deg F (7 to 13 deg C) Mike.

Dave

[clivmar]

Hi Mike D

I have just made my first cheese following Riks Stilton. But like Franco I decided to leave out the blue cheese first time to see how it goes. I�m afraid I couldn�t wait for the cheese to mature, I started eating it on the 3rd day (beautiful). Have another go but leave out the blue cheese to check everything is right.

I have question on maturing cheese. Some times the recipe says to mature in a fridge some times at room temperature like Riks Stilton other times at 45 deg F. I have just read a book by Paul Peacoock. And most times just say mature for a certain number of weeks, sometime to mature in a fridge. Any help on maturing cheese would be appreciated for when I start on something a bit more complicated.

[saucisson]

I'll tell you what I do, but this sums up the bigger picture rather nicely:

http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/mo ... Cave1.html

http://www.cheesemaking.com/includes/mo ... ave2.html#

I have a larder fridge set to 10 deg C, and try and control humidity with Lock and Lock boxes with the pressure seal in the lid. I have a lump of Value Cheddar bought at Christmas sitting in one of those that has picked up a touch of blue veining presumably from cross contamination that is completely awesome 8 months later On the whole I would like to up the general humidity in the "cave" so will be installing a humidifier this week.

Dave