Stilton is a famous English cheese — pale and crumbly, with blue-grey veins running through it, and a strong, salty, sharp taste that gets stronger the longer it is kept. It is one of the blue cheeses, in the same family as French Roquefort and Italian Gorgonzola, and English people often treat it as the best of their own cheeses.

The capital S matters: it is named after a village, and the name is legally protected. Only cheese made in three English counties, in the specified way, may be sold as Stilton. Cheese made anywhere else, however similar, has to be called something else. This is the same kind of rule that protects Champagne.

Culturally it belongs to Christmas. A whole Stilton on the table after Christmas dinner, eaten with crackers, celery, and a glass of port wine, is a very traditional English scene, and shops sell most of their Stilton in December. It also turns up in soup, most famously with broccoli.

There is a white Stilton too — the same cheese without the blue veins, mild and crumbly, sometimes sold with dried fruit mixed in — but if someone just says "Stilton," they mean the blue one.

A fair warning for a first taste: the smell is powerful and the flavour is very salty and sharp. People who love it love it for exactly that. It is not a cheese to try a small piece of politely and judge; it is strong on purpose.