I’m trying Stilton again. This time I used dairy-fresh milk and half-and-half. Used the recipe from Ricki Carrol.

I still had a hard time getting a clean break, even after rennetting for 2 hours. Maybe my rennet is bad? It is a new batch, recently purchased. I did add about 1/4 tsp. of CaCl, but that did not seem to help.

Even without the clean break, I think this one may turn out. I cut the curds after 2 hours of rennetting and let the cut curds sit in the whey for about a half hour. I then gently ladled the curds into a cheesecloth-lined collander set in a large bowl. Then I let them drain. This took a while because the collandar could not hold all the curds at first. I then let the curds set in the bowl of whey for another hour or so. Finally, I drained the bag of curds for about an hour. I then pressed the bag under about 2# of weight for 6 or 7 hours. I then broke the curd mass up into relatively small pieces (finger tip sized), added the salt, mixed well and put into a mold sandwich. I’ve been turning the mold over every 8 hours or so and will continue to do so for 4 days.

I made this batch on Sunday, 17th of April, 2005.

The yield is good. The odor is great. I have a much wetter curd than previous tries and the curds seem to be knitting together really well.

I may not end up with a Stilton, but I hope it is still good!

I scraped the mold off this cheese after a couple of months. I’ve kept it on a bamboo mat in a sealed plastic container in a fridge at about 50 degrees F.

Last week, we cut into this cheese—perhaps a little early, but we couldn’t wait. It is excellent. I had to scrape a lot of mold off it again. But, the consistency and flavor is fantastic.

I have now wrapped it tightly in foil and we will be eating it for the next couple of months.