Stilton cheese is made from full cream pasteurized cow's milk produced by dairy herds from the three counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottingham of England. Since September 2012, China has implemented geographical indication product protection for Stilton White Cheese/Stilton Blue Cheese.

Since the early 18th century, the town of Stilton in Leicestershire has been famous for selling Stilton cheese. The first literary reference to Stilton cheese is in Daniel Defoe's "Tour through England and Wales" published in 1927 where he noted that Stilton was a town famous for cheese.

Stilton cheese is made in cylindrical form and contains minimum 48% milk fat in the dry matter. It is made in three varieties, White Stilton cheese, Blue Stilton cheese, Mature Blue and/or Vintage Blue Stilton cheese. In addition to the use of high-quality milk produced in the region and traditional fermentation technology, penicillin spores are added to the milk in order to generate the inherent local characteristics of Stilton cheese. (Courtesy of the IP Protection Department of CNIPA)