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List of ingredients for Home-made Stilton-type cheese


* 6 Litres full cream milk (I used Pasteurised, shop-bought milk)
* A little DVI starter (see picture)
* Freeze dried Penicillium Roquefortii (see picture)
* 2 ml Rennet
* Table salt (28g per 1200g of curd)

===Method===
'''Setting the Curds'''
* Using a Double boiler pre-warmed to 29°C, add the cold Pasteurised Milk and slowly bring the milk temperature to 29°C
* Whisk the DVI starter into a little of the warm Milk and re-introduce the milk suspension into the boiler.
* Pour the Penicillium Roquefortii mould culture into the warm Milk. Whisk to mix. Cover with a clean Tea-towel and leave for 30 minutes.
* Add 2ml of Rennet to 1 tablespoon of cold, previously Boiled water, mix well and add to the Milk.
* Whisk to mix, cover and leave in a warm place (about 22°C) until the curd sets.
* Lay a boiled cheesecloth on a draining mat and then ladle all of the curds on to the cheesecloth. The picture shows 3/4 of the curds - I had to put the rest into a second tray.
* Fold to cover the curds and leave to stand in the whey for 60 minutes.
* Wind one corner of the cheesecloth around the other three corners to make a Stilton knot (a kind of noose).
* Hang the bag up to drain off the whey.
* Every 30 minutes for the next two hours, tighten the bag a little more.
'''Salting and packing the curds'''
* After 2 hours, cut the curds into walnut-sized cubes.
* Sprinkle the cubes evenly with table salt at a ratio of 28g per 1200g of curd.
* Pack the curds into unlined moulds but don't compress them. (I used a colander as a mould for this batch)
* Leave the curds for 5 days, turning daily to ensure it can still drain freely. I stored mine in a the salad container in the fridge with a bowl of water in a vain attempt to maintain humidity. Ideally a little warmer (cave-like) would be more ideal.
* After 5 days, the cheese should have shrunk away from the sides of the mould.
* Use a spatula to rub the surface of the cheese flat so there are no holes on the outside.
* Cover with cling-film or rub with vegetable oil to seal the surface and leave to mature in a cool damp place. Again, if you have a cave, that would be ideal! Try to maintain a degree of humidity if possible.
* After 5 days, remove the cling-film and create the airways for the veining to form by piercing the cheese at regular intervals with a sterilised knitting needle or kebab skewer. (Take a close look at the high-resolution image of Stichelton cheese to see how the commercial cheese makers do this.)
Leave to mature for as long as you can bear! A wooden or wicker plate is good for this as it won't make the cheese sweat. The ideal conditions are 8°C to 12°C at 90% humidity.
Unless you have a cave handy, the fridge is probably the best place to mature your homemade cheese although it's really going to be too cold. After discovering the top shelf of my often-opened fridge could be as much as 5° C warmer than the bottom, I've decided to mature my cheeses there. As all fridges differ, check various areas of your fridge with a thermometer to find the area that is around 11°C [51° F], the ideal 'cave' temperature.

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Recipe from: https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Home-made_Stilton-type_cheese

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