Amateur cheesemaker here - I know there are both other amateurs and commercial producers I've met on HN over years, so I'd be curious to hear your input here too - to my thinking, while there are differences in working with raw vs. pasteurized milk, I also agree this seems overstated. Stilton is stilton.

What seems more likely is there was a cheese similar to Stilton that was formerly produced with raw milk, and chances are too that it depended on the local bacteria present wherever it was made, even down to the level of what those particular cows (or goats, or sheep, etc...) were eating. Without those conditions, it is similar, but never the same.

This is to my thinking the dirty secret of cheese... there are commercial varieties produced in enormous numbers that are consistent because they are done to scale in factory conditions. But, historically, a big part of the reason for so many variations and differences had more to do with conditions we can't created today because they would be considered unhygenic or unsanitary. It's also a reality that there really are only so many variations and many types that have distinct geographic names are substantially the same cheese.

I am uniquely qualified to respond to this, as about 6 years ago I developed a raw milk cheese that was inspired by Stilton that eventually won 1st place in its class in the World Champion Cheese Contest.

I do not feel that the original claim is overstated. Creating any novel cheese is remarkably difficult–seriously, it's really damn hard–but recreating a cheese that no longer exists and was likely made in a different location under different circumstances is effectively impossible. There are so many hidden variables involved that, even if they had access to the model cheese, a talented cheesemaker could still take years to make a good approximation. And it would only be an approximation. Even with today's advanced cheese technology you cannot recreate terrior.

Since they don't have access to the model cheese, this difficulty is compounded many times.

Edit: I want to add that even though I was at the peak of my cheese game, I was only able to do this because I had effectively unlimited money to throw at the problem and very little oversight from my investors.

As a French I am obviously interested in that world championship.

Since we did not have a national mourning day I am curious if it was indeed a worldwide competition?

> what about written recipes and notes held over from dairies?

As something made for hundreds of years, chances are many producers worked on oral history passed down to apprentices more than recipes. A lot of old recipes are /r/restofthefuckingowl/ territory, too.