Who moved our Stilton?

Big news from the cheese world. For years it has been accepted that although Stilton cheese is named after a village in Cambridgeshire, it was actually produced quite far from there in a farm near Melton Mowbray – in Leicestershire. Sometime in the early 18th century, goes the story, an enthusiastic Stilton-based pub landlord signed a deal with the farm giving his establishment sole marketing rights. ‘Stilton’ became a shorter way of saying ‘the tasty blue cheese sold out of The Bell Inn in Stilton on the busy New North Road’.

A historian named Richard Landy has now uncovered a letter pre-dating all other sources mentioning a cheese called Stilton that was being produced specifically in the village. His revelation has led the Stilton Cheese Maker’s Association to put out a statement, confirming that they will be altering their official historical information but pointing out that “the finished product would bear very little resemblance to the blue Stilton cheese produced in modern times”.

They add: “We now think that production ceased in the area in the second half of the 18th century as it moved to Leicestershire.”

But does it really matter? Isn’t this sort of thing only for the cheese geeks? Well at face value, maybe. But on the other hand, Stilton is big business – in the UK it outsells every other blue cheese put together – and its supposed region of origin is recognised in the form EU protection decreeing that it can only be made in Leicestershire, Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire.

Bizarrely, this means that if you’re based in Stilton, and you make a blue cheese, it’s illegal to call it ‘Stilton’.

The big question, then, is will this new information open the door to Stilton-based Stilton makers? Could it eventually challenge the legitimacy of the existing ‘big six’ Stilton dairies?

Speaking to the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, Landy confirmed that he will be looking to challenge the existing laws.

He said: “It is nice to have confirmation that Stilton is now the village that created the cheese.

“It has taken a long time and a lot of research to get this result, but it now means Stilton is firmly on the map, and the cheese map.”

By M. Cosworth