Britain is falling out of love with Stilton – but cheesemakers are fighting back

Tension is mounting in the maturing room. Three Stilton makers, clad in white coats and wellies, gather nervously around a mould-encrusted cheese. “This is the moment of truth,” says Kim Kettle, who has made Stilton at Long Clawson Dairy for nearly 50 years. The 8kg cylinder-shaped Stilton is promptly sliced in half to reveal two full moons of pale cheese marbled with blue veins. “You never quite know until you cut one open, but that’s just how we like it,” says Kettle pointing to the pretty spider’s web of blue mould.

Long Clawson has been making Stilton in Leicestershire for more than 100 years, but there’s a lot riding on the cheese that has just been expertly dissected and not just because Christmas is coming. That’s because it’s a new premium Stilton called 1912, which has taken three years to develop and bears the heavy responsibility of turning around an alarming fall in Stilton sales. It might be hard to believe at Christmas, but the country’s most famous blue cheese is slipping in the nation’s affections.

“There’s a big concern about the mid-term health of Stilton,” admits Long Clawson’s managing director Bill Mathieson later on in the boardroom, which is lined with trophies from national cheese competitions. “There’s been a 14 per cent decline in total sales in the past five years, which equates to 1,200 tonnes being taken out of the market.”

According to consumer research carried out by Long Clawson, the typical Stilton buyer is over 55 and only purchases the cheese three times a year, on average. Even more worryingly, younger shoppers often perceive the cheese as being too strong and salty. “Sweaty socks” were mentioned in interviews.

Covid was particularly tough on the sector with sales dropping 30 per cent in 2020 as orders ground to a halt in lockdown, while Webster’s Dairy in Leicestershire, which had made Stilton for 150 years, was forced to shut down. Mathieson says that even if the current rate of decline slows, 25 per cent of Stilton sales could be wiped out in the next 20 years, potentially leading to the loss of more dairies.

“As the largest producer of Stilton in the country, we see ourselves as custodians of a British cheese jewel,” he says. “We don't want Stilton to become a lost regional cheese. It’s a fabulous British cheese.”

This is why 1912 is such a big deal. Made to a different recipe and aged for longer to be creamy and not too salty or bitter, the new brand aims to have wide appeal and turnaround the decline. Sleek blue recyclable packaging comes with information about the cheese’s provenance and animal welfare. There’s also a QR code for recipes developed by Marco Pierre White to encourage people to cook with Stilton all year round. “We want to reignite consumers’ love for Stilton,” says Mathieson.

That love stretches all the way back to the 18^th century when the cheese was sold at the Bell Inn in the village of Stilton – an important trading post on the way from the North to London. Legend has it the cheese became synonymous with Christmas because the best Stiltons were made at the end of the summer, when the milk was richest. These would only be ready after several months of maturing at exactly the same time as Christmas.

The festive period is still hugely important today with 40-60 per cent of all sales coming in November and December – a phenomenon that puts massive production pressures on the five dairies that still make the blue cheese (A sixth, called Shirevale, makes solely white Stilton). Stilton is protected in law – meaning that it can only be made in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in a traditional way – but it remains a tiny part of the overall cheese market, accounting for just one per cent of sales.

At Nottinghamshire Stilton company Cropwell Bishop, managing director Robin Skailes is optimistic that Stilton’s fortunes can be revived. He flies the flag for Stilton around the world with 25 per cent of Cropwell Bishop’s sales coming from exports to North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. “It’s Britain’s best blue,” he says. “When you go abroad everyone has heard of it and it’s really sought after. We sell a lot more Stilton in France than we did 20 years ago.”

Derbyshire-based Hartington Creamery, the country’s smallest Stilton maker, also has reasons to be cheerful. The company has built up an online business selling Stilton and other blue cheeses direct to the public, which owner Robert Gosling expects to make £200,000 this Christmas with younger people the main target market. One of the company's cheesemakers – Ryan Gee – was also named Young Cheesemaker of the Year last year in an online cheese awards ceremony. “We make our Stilton to be younger and creamier than others,” says Gosling. “It’s about changing people’s mindsets.”

Further proof that Stilton has a bright future comes from Mathew Carver, owner of the Cheese Bar restaurant group, whose typical customers are professionals in their thirties. His Pick & Cheese restaurant in Covent Garden, which features a conveyor belt of cheese, serves Stilton with accompaniments such as pear jam or a chocolate brownie.

“People pick the dish for the brownie, but then say how much they love the Stilton,” says Carver. “It’s an iconic cheese with a unique place in British cheese history. It’s on the menu in all our restaurants all year round.”

That will be music to the ears of the cheesemakers back at Long Clawson, where Stilton is for life, not just for Christmas.

Six brilliant things to do with stilton

Xanthe Clay 

Using Stilton in your cooking doesn’t have to mean a full-on blue cheese bonanza. Make the most of that tang and deep savouriness by using it as a seasoning, adding just enough to make a delicious depth of flavour. It also freezes surprisingly well, so will be fine defrosted and used for recipes, even if it’s no longer cheeseboard worthy.

1. Pimp your mince pies

Slip a sliver of cheese under the lid (carefully levered up with a knife) and warm as usual in the oven. Delicious in a Wensleydale-with-Christmas-cake way.

2. Flavour mashed potato

Crumble 30g Stilton for each cupful of hot mashed potato and stir through, along with a chopped spring onion and plenty of butter.

3. Make your own potted Stilton with port

Mash 200g Stilton with 100g butter and 2 tbsp port. Pack into a ramekin or jar and top with melted butter. Chill, but bring back to room temperature before serving with toast.

4. Create a delicious butter for fish and veg

Try this blue cheese and coriander butter: toast 1 tbsp coriander seeds in a hot pan until fragrant, then bash in a pestle and mortar. Beat in 30g Stilton and 60g softened butter. Smoosh on steamed veg, or chill the butter and lay slices of it on grilled fish.

5. Whizz into a dressing

Blend 100ml sour cream, 100ml mayonnaise, 50ml milk, 50g Stilton, ½ tsp English mustard, ½ clove of garlic, 2 tsp vinegar, salt and pepper. Taste and add more Stilton if you like. Stir in 2 tbsp chopped chives. Serve dolloped on salad, burgers or enjoy as a dip.

6. Make mouthwatering Stilton palmiers

Spread a sheet of puff pastry with onion marmalade from a jar. Sprinkle with 50g finely crumbled Stilton. Roll up from both the left and right side, meeting in the middle. Wrap and chill for an hour, then slice crossways, pound-coin thick. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Lay the palmiers on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, and bake for 10 minutes until golden. Eat warm.