STILTON CHEESE. 259 



best protected from the light, and any sudden changes 

 of temperature. The best Cheshire cheese is seldom 

 ripe for the market under one or two years. 



The Stilton Cheese is by far the richest of the 

 English dairies. This originated in a small town of that 

 name, in Leicestershire. It possesses " a peculiar deli- 

 cacy of flavor, a delicious mellowness, and a great apt- 

 ness to acquire a species of artificial decay ; without 

 which, to the somewhat vitiated taste of lovers of Stilton 

 cheese, as now eaten, it is not considered of prime 

 account. To be in good order, according to the present 

 standard of taste, it must be decayed, blue, and moist." 

 To suit this taste, an artificial mode is adopted, old and 

 decayed cheese being introduced into the new, or port 

 wine or ale added by means of tasters, or caulking-pins 

 are stuck into them, and left till they rust and produce 

 an appearance of decay in the cheese. 



" It is commonly made by putting the night's cream 

 to the milk of the following morning with the rennet, 

 great care being taken that the milk and the cream are 

 thoroughly mixed together, and that they both have 

 the proper temperature. TJie rennet should also be 

 very pure and sweet. As soon as the milk is curdled, 

 the whole of it is taken out, put into a sieve gradually 

 to drain, and moderately pressed. It is then put into 

 a case or box, of the form that it is intended to be ; for, 

 on account of its richness, it would separate and fall to 

 pieces were not this precaution adopted. Afterwards 

 it is turned every day on dry boards, cloth-binders being 

 tied around it, which are gradually tightened as occasion 

 requires. After it is removed from the box or hoop, the 

 cheese must be closely bound with cloths and changed 

 daily, until it becomes sufficiently compact to support 

 itself. When these cloths are taken away, each cheese 

 has to be rubbed over with a brush once every day. If 



