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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Stilton
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Britain's most widely known cheese, and the only one with a name protected by law; Stilton is officially defined as a blue or white cheese made with full-cream milk in the district of Melton Mowbray (in Leicestershire) and surrounding areas. It first became famous in the early 18C, when it was sold in the Bell Inn – a coaching house on the Great North Road at Stilton (then in Huntingdonshire, now Cambridgeshire). The cheese has never been made at Stilton or in its vicinity, but it became known by the place where travellers had enjoyed it.
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A Stilton starts cream-coloured and firm and then matures, within its protective crust, to a blue crumbling richness. There was an early tradition (not followed now, but mentioned by Defoe when he discovered the cheese at Stilton in 1722 during his tour of Great Britain) that it should be kept until crawling with mites and maggots; another theory is that port poured into the cheese improves its texture and flavour. A white Stilton is a different and less widely known product.
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