Shropshire Blue cheese
Encyclopedia
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, Scotland by Andy Williamson, a cheesemaker who had trained in the making of Stilton cheese in Nottinghamshire. The cheese was first known as 'Inverness-shire Blue' or 'Blue Stuart', but was eventually marketed as 'Shropshire Blue', a name chosen to help increase its popularity, despite it having no link to the county of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
.
After the Castle Stuart dairy was closed down in 1980, the cheese was revived by Elliot Hulme and Harry Hanlin of Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, but once again the manufacture soon ceased. The cheese is now made by the Long Clawson
Long Clawson
Long Clawson is a small village in Leicestershire, England.There is some debate about the origin of the village's name; one theory is that there were once two villages named Clawson and Claxton, which grew together and became Long Clawson...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
and the Cropwell Bishop
Cropwell Bishop
Cropwell Bishop is a village in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire.It is two miles to the east of the A46 in the NG12 postcode. The next village to the north is Cropwell Butler. Both villages form part of the Vale of Belvoir....
and Colston Bassett
Colston Bassett
Colston Bassett is a small picturesque village in the Vale of Belvoir in the south-east of Nottinghamshire close to its border with Leicestershire...
dairies in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
.
It is now also being made in the county of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
in a small artisan dairy at the Ludlow Food Centre.
Description
Shropshire Blue is a blue cheeseBlue cheese
Blue cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, sheep's milk, or goat's milk cheeses that have had cultures of the mold Penicillium added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue, blue-gray or blue-green mold, and carries a distinct smell, either from that or...
made from pasteurised cows' milk and uses vegetable rennet
Rennet
Rennet is a complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk, and is often used in the production of cheese. Rennet contains many enzymes, including a proteolytic enzyme that coagulates the milk, causing it to separate into solids and liquid...
. The orange colour comes from the addition of annatto
Annatto
Annatto, sometimes called roucou or achiote, is a derivative of the achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a yellow to orange food coloring and also as a flavoring...
, a natural food colouring. It has been described as a cross between Stilton and Cheshire
Cheshire cheese
Cheshire cheese is a dense and crumbly cheese produced in the English county of Cheshire, and four neighbouring counties, two in Wales and two in England .-History:...
. Penicillium roqueforti
Penicillium roqueforti
Penicillium roqueforti is a common saprotrophic fungus from the family Trichocomaceae. Widespread in nature, it can be isolated from soil, decaying organic matter, and plants. The major industrial use of this fungus is the production of blue cheeses, flavouring agents, antifungals, polysaccharides,...
produces the veining.
The cheese has a deep orange-brown, natural rind and matures for a period of 10–12 weeks with a fat content of about 34 per cent. Made in a similar way to Stilton, it is a soft cheese with a sharp, strong flavour and a slightly tangy aroma. It is slightly sour but sharper than Stilton and generally creamier.