EU Protected Food Names Scheme - UK registered names
Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 - Application for Registration Article 17
Protected
Designation of Origin
National application No: 00513 - Blue Stilton Cheese including Mature and Vintage
1. Competent service of the Member State:
Name: United Kingdom - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Tel: 020 7238 6687
Fax: 020 7328 5728
2. Applicant group:
a) Name: The Stilton Cheese Makers' Association
b) Address: PO Box384A, Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 9YL
c) Composition: producer / processor ( 7 )
3. Name of product:
Blue Stilton Cheese including Mature and Vintage
4. Type of product (see list in Annex VI):
Cheese - Class 1.3
5. Specification - Summary of requirement under Article 4(2)):
a) Name:
Blue Stilton Cheese including Mature and Vintage
b) Description of Product:
Blue veined moulded cheese made in cylindrical form from full cream cow's milk with no added pressure and forming its own crust.
c) Geographical area:
The Counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
d) Background:
The cheese gained its reputation from being sold at the Bell Inn, a coaching inn, at the town of Stilton on the Great North Road in the early 18th Century. The first literary evidence is in Daniel Defoe's "Tour through England and Wales" published in 1727 where he notes that in 1722 he passed "through Stilton, a town famous for cheese." Stilton was then made in the Melton Mowbray area of Leicestershire and the name has for at least the last 80 years been used in connection only with cheese made in the designated area according to a defined process.
e) Acquisition:
Milk comes from the designated area except in times of shortage when it may come from the surrounding counties of Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Starter cultures, rennet and penicillium spores are added. Curds are formed which are cut, salted and put into cylindrical cheese moulds. These are turned whilst draining for up to 7 days then removed and the surface of the cheese is sealed. It is matured for up to 6 weeks then pierced repeatedly from side to side allowing air to enter and activate the penicillium spores. The cheeses are left to ripen, turned regularly and pierced again. Blue Stilton is sold at a minimum of 6 weeks, Mature Blue at a minimum of 10 weeks and Vintage Blue at a minimum of 15 weeks.
f) Link
The geographical conditions in the area produce a rich high quality milk. There is a unique pool of knowledge and expertise in the area which has been passed down through the generations. Unique local recipe.
g) Inspection bodies:
Product Authentication International Ltd
Address: Rowland House, 65 High Street, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1DN.
Tel: 01903 237799
Fax: 01903 204445
h) Labelling:
PDO
i) National requirements (if any):
text
EC No:
Page last modified: 7 August 2007
Page published: 21 July 2003