Winter Blues: Stilton & Stichelton

Established in 1913, Colton Bassett and District Dairy was the initiative of 5 local farmers who felt they would work better as a co-operative than as competitors.  The local cheese, Stilton, was made using their milk only and to this day, 3 of those original farms still own the Dairy and their milk is still used.

During the 120 years that the Dairy has been operating, there have only been 4 head cheesemakers: Tom Coy, Ernie Wagstaff, Richard Rowlett and now Billy Kevan.  This has led to a high degree of consistency and under the Billy’s stewardship, they continue to produce the most traditional Stilton available.

Where other Stilton Dairies mechanised their processes in the latter half of the 20th century, Colston Bassett stuck to their traditional recipe, ladling the curd by hand from the vat to the draining tables where it acidifies overnight.  Because of this, their cheese has a couple of defining characteristics, firstly they use less starter culture and the acidity develops slowly over time in a way more commonly associated with a lactic set cheese and secondly they use less rennet which is why their cheese has such a melt in the mouth creaminess.

(One of the vats at Colston Bassett Dairy - testing the set.)

Without Colston Bassett, there wouldn’t be Stichelton.  In keeping with their adherence to traditional recipes and techniques, Colston Bassett were the last Stilton makers to use unpasteurised milk.  One by one, the other dairies began to pasteurise and finally in the early 1990s Colston Bassett followed suit, closing their doors for about a year until they were satisfied, they could make pasteurised cheese to the same standard as their raw milk ones. 

By this time, their cheese had been bought and sold at a certain Neal’s Yard Dairy for several years.  Owner Randolph Hodgson held cherished memories of the raw milk Stiltons he had been able to buy and for a while tried to convince Colston Bassett to return to raw milk.  The die was cast in the mid 90s when both the Stilton PDO and Trademark insisted the cheese be made with pasteurised milk and Colston Bassett’s hands were tied.

Randolph didn’t give up on the idea and around 2006, he and Joe Schneider who was already making a name for himself as a cheesemaker at Daylesford and Old Plawhatch, decided to bring the raw milk cheeses back.  They found premises at Collingthwaite Farm on the Welbeck Estate and decided on a name, Stichelton, which is the name given to the town of Stilton in the Lincolnshire Rolls (a 12^th Century document akin to the Doomesday Book). 

(The cows at Collingthwaite Farm)

On the day of their first make, Richard Rowlett (former head cheesemaker from Colston Bassett) and Billy Kevan came to teach Joe how to make the traditional recipe and their help was invaluable.  Naturally, since then, Joe has taken on the recipe and made it his own to great success but much as the spirit of Colston Bassett was born from co-operation between farmers, so it came full circle when their cheesemakers passed on a traditional recipe to a new cheesemaker.

How do they differ?

You might expect to hear that the unpasteurised cheese is our preference but due to the care and attention Colston Bassett put into making sure their pasteurised cheese was as good as their previous ones and the way their cheese knowledge is religiously passed down from head cheesemaker to head cheesemaker, these cheeses stand shoulder to shoulder with one another.

Colston Bassett Stiltons have a softer texture and incredible, rounded balance and smoothness.  The predominant flavours are sweet cream butter and a cooling herbal quality from the blueing.

Sticheltons have a slightly more structured texture and tend towards a more cereal, biscuit quality and livelier flavours of green apples when young. 

Both have their fans and they happily sit side by side on our counters.