Celebrate Christmas with a local delicacy

Christmas is just around the corner. Very soon Nottinghamshire’s town centres will be all hustle and bustle with Christmas shoppers. As well as gift buying, more excitingly it is the time of year when we stock the cupboards with all our favourite foods! Throughout the festive party season, you can’t go wrong with offering your guests a traditional cheeseboard. And the ‘King’ cheese, as we all know, is Stilton. This traditional British blue is inextricably linked to the county. Due to its PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status, Stilton cheese can only be produced according to a strict code in the three counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. In fact, there are only six dairies licensed to produce Stilton, two of which are located in Nottinghamshire! Since 1913, Colston Bassett Dairy has been producing outstanding cheese. The formation of the Dairy was the brilliant idea of the village doctor, Dr William Windley. He suggested that local farmers set up a co-operative to make cheese, with the objective of adding value to any excess milk being produced by farmers in the village. Colston Bassett’s co-operative is still in operation today. The milk is now delivered from four local farms, all located within a 1.5-mile radius of the Dairy in the Vale of Belvoir. Farming and cheesemaking are skills handed down through the generations and many of the original families are still involved in the production of Colston Bassett’s award winning cheese! Creamy in texture and smooth and mellow in flavour, Colston Bassett Stilton is renowned for its great taste and quality. It is perfect for your festive cheeseboard and sensational washed down with a local craft beer or a glass of white port! So have yourself a very Merry Christmas and celebrate with the local legend that is Colston Bassett Stilton. Stocked in the region’s leading delis, or why not take a visit to the Colston Bassett Dairy Shop: www.colstonbassettdairy.co.uk/find-us/ For a wonderful winter treat try out this recipe for Colston Bassett Stilton Scones:                Ingredients 225g (8oz) Self raising flour Small pinch celery salt 50g (2oz) Butter 150ml (1/4 pint) Milk – reserve two tablespoons separately, for brushing the tops of the scones 50g (2oz) grated Colston Bassett Stilton or Shropshire Blue – reserve half for the tops of the scones 1 Preheat the oven to 210C or Gas mark 7 2 Rub the flour, celery salt and butter together to resemble fine breadcrumbs 3 Mix in the grated cheese 4 Make a well in the centre and add the milk (less reserved milk) all in one go 5 Mix to a soft dough and roll out on a lightly floured board to approx. 2cm thick 6 Cut in to eight rounds with a 6cm biscuit cutter 7 Place on a flat metal tray lined with baking parchment 8 Brush with the reserved milk and sprinkle grated blue cheese on the top of each 9 Cook in a hot oven, turning the tray around half way during cooking time for approx. 12 minutes