Stiton Cheese ... cheesemaking.com

**Blue in the style of English Stilton**

My resource for this cheese was "Practical Cheese Making",
a book published in England first in 1917
and very focused on farmstead cheese production
before the days of automation and shortcuts.

This cheese was produced with raw unpasteurized milk from a local farm. Even though I could have waited for the natural flora to do it's work, a prepared starter to develop acid was added along with an inoculation of p.rouqforti for the blue. This improves the chances of getting the proper cultures and making a more consistant cheese.
zzz

The raw milk is inoculated w/starter plus p.rouqforti and brought to 86F. Then rennet is added. We are now waiting for the rennet to work.	Instead of cutting the curd, it is carefully ladled into the draining pan in large masses.	The curd now rests in it's draining pan to develop acidity as the matrix shrinks and the whey is expelled .	The cloths are folded in as the whey begins to drain off. At intervals the whey is removed and this slows down the acid development.

As the whey drains off, the cloths are tightened and tied to encourage more whey to drain off.	The curd has now consolidated into a mass...	... which resembles a large lump of dough...	...which is reduced to smaller blocks to facilitate drying off

Our goal here is to have the curd dry off at the same time that the final acidity is reached.	The curds are then loosely packed into forms and turned for the next several days as they settle	The final cheese just out of the mould.	*Day 3-4*.. notice the blue mold is just beginning to develop.
	Between weeks 3-5 the cheese is still quite moist and giving off some very strong aromas. At 5 weeks the mold community on the outside should dry off a bit,
At *3 weeks* the blue is beginning to dry out and a multitude of different colored molds are forming on the outside.	and then I will make multiple holes with a sterile needle to allow an exchange of gasses and the inner bluing should begin. The final step is to put it into my aging chamber to finish out the 4 month process...	At 8 weeks the cheese has been pierced to allow the internal development of the blue molds and the ammonia has subsided to a wonderful strong blue cheese aroma. The exterior has now formed a very definite crinkle...	...and many of the molds have dried down to a good crust. The real secret here is to keep the humidity at a point where the surface doesn't crack nor become slimy at the other extreme
..... The only problem I can see at this point is waiting the next month or 2 until it reaches its peak
	At 12 weeks the cheese is ready to cut. The crust is a coat of many colors and the blue has done it's job inside.	Notice the holes left by the earlier piercing to let air in and gasses out	The flavor at this point is medium strong and permeates the entire cheese, The texture is very smooth, creamy, and spreadable but cuts cleanly and easily without crumbling.
	I will now be tasting this cheese over the next 4-8 weeks and expecting the flavor to get stronger.

Blue in the style of English Stilton

My resource for this cheese was "Practical Cheese Making",
a book published in England first in 1917
and very focused on farmstead cheese production
before the days of automation and shortcuts.

This cheese was produced with raw unpasteurized milk from a local farm. Even though I could have waited for the natural flora to do it's work, a prepared starter to develop acid was added along with an inoculation of p.rouqforti for the blue. This improves the chances of getting the proper cultures and making a more consistant cheese.
zzz

The raw milk is inoculated w/starter plus p.rouqforti and brought to 86F. Then rennet is added. We are now waiting
for the rennet to work.

Instead of cutting the curd, it is carefully ladled into the draining pan in large masses.

The curd now rests in it's
draining pan to develop acidity
as the matrix shrinks
and the whey is expelled .

The cloths are folded in as the whey begins to drain off.
At intervals the whey is removed and this slows down
the acid development.

As the whey drains off, the cloths are tightened and tied to encourage more whey to drain off.

The curd has now consolidated into a mass...

... which resembles a large lump of dough...

...which is reduced to smaller blocks to facilitate drying off

Our goal here is to have the curd dry off at the same time that the final acidity is reached.

The curds are then loosely packed into forms and turned for the next several days as they settle

The final cheese just out of the mould.

Day 3-4.. notice the blue mold is just beginning to develop.

Between weeks 3-5 the cheese is still quite moist and giving off some very strong aromas. At 5 weeks the mold community on the outside should dry off a bit,

At 3 weeks the blue is beginning to dry out and a multitude of different colored molds are forming on the outside.

and then I will make multiple holes with a sterile needle to allow an exchange of gasses and the inner bluing should begin.
The final step is to put it into my aging chamber to finish out the 4 month process...

At 8 weeks the cheese has been pierced to allow the internal development of the blue molds and the ammonia has subsided to a wonderful strong blue cheese aroma. The exterior has now formed a very definite crinkle...

...and many of the molds have dried down to a good crust. The real secret here is to keep the humidity at a point where the surface doesn't crack nor become slimy at the other extreme

..... The only problem I can see at this point is waiting the next month or 2 until it reaches its peak

At 12 weeks the cheese is ready to cut. The crust is a coat of many colors and the blue has done it's job inside.

Notice the holes left by the earlier piercing to let air in and gasses out

The flavor at this point is medium strong and permeates the entire cheese, The texture is very smooth, creamy, and spreadable but cuts cleanly and easily without crumbling.

I will now be tasting this cheese over the next 4-8 weeks and expecting the flavor to get stronger.