Method of Making Stilton Cheese . 158 
dom larger, and are sold at one shilling per pound. Most 
of the inns in the county retail them, the price thirteen 
and fourteen pence per pound. I was informed by the 
maker, that they were never better for the table than at 
a year old, but I believe they are seldom cut so soon. 
The best of the other sort of cheese made in the county 
is, in my opinion, better than the generality of the Stil- 
ton, as it is but seldom you meet with a real good one. 
In respect to the grand secret of making Stilton cheese, 
I should have left the county without acquiring the pro- 
cess, if it had not been for the politeness and attention of 
major Cheselden, of Somerly, who, upon my acquaint- 
ing him with my disappointment, kindly undertook to 
procure it for me from one of his tenants, who was among 
the first for making it. The following is the receipt. 
Take the night’s cream, and put it to the morning’s 
new milk, with the rennet ; when the curd is come, it is 
not to be broken, as is done with other cheeses, but take 
it out with a soil-dish altogether, and place it in a sieve 
to drain gradually, and, as it drains, keep gradually 
pressing it till it becomes firm and dry; then place it in 
a wooden hoop ; afterwards to be kept dry on boards, 
turned frequently, with cloth binders round it, which are 
to be tightened as occasion requires. 
N. B. The dairy- maid must not be disheartened, if 
she does not succeed perfectly in her first attempt. 
In the dairies which I visited, the cheeses, after being 
taken out of the wooden hoop, were bound tight round 
with a cloth, which cloth was changed every day, until 
the cheese became firm enough to support itself ; after the 
cloth was taken off, they were rubbed every day all over, 
for two or three months, with a brush ; and if the weather 
was damp or moist, twice a day ; and, even before the 
cloth was taken off, the top and bottom were well rubbed 
every day. 
Yol. ii. 
T 
