Colston Bassett Stilton

Colston Bassett Dairy, which was set up as a cooperative in 1913 and is still owned by a handful of local residents and the farmers who supply the milk, is one of only five dairies in the world still producing Stilton. They are also the only one that continues the traditional process of ladling the curds from the vat to the cooling trays entirely by hand: an important step in achieving a smooth, rich-textured cheese. The milk is sourced from farms within 1½ miles of the dairy, and the head cheesemaker, Billy Kevan, is only the fourth person to have held the post in more than a century.

Billy is a long-standing friend of Neal's Yard Dairy, having worked with us for many years to perfect the recipe for the Stilton we buy: a buttery, silky cheese with an elegant sweetness. As well as hand-ladling the curds, Billy uses an animal rennet in our Stilton, which imparts a longer, more complex taste. The piercing (the process by which the cheese is quite literally pierced to allow air in to activate the mould) takes place later in the maturation process in order to strike the right balance between creamy, flavoursome paste and blue mould.