Why Is Blacksticks Blue Orange, and How Mild Is It?

Blacksticks Blue is a mild cow's milk blue cheese made by Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses in Lancashire. Its orange paste, fine blue veins, and buttery texture make it easy to identify and less sharp than many classic blue cheese styles.

The orange color comes from annatto, a coloring made from achiote seeds.

It does not mean the cheese contains Cheddar, smoke, or hot spices.

Choose Blacksticks when you want a blue cheese that can work on toast, in a sandwich, or on a board without the strong peppery bite of Stilton. It still has a clear blue tang, but cream and butter arrive first.

Orange Paste and Blue Veins Identify Blacksticks

Blacksticks looks different before you taste it. The paste ranges from amber to deep orange, while thin blue-gray veins spread through the cut face.

Butlers says the orange comes from annatto made from achiote seeds. Annatto colors the paste throughout, so a freshly cut wedge should be orange at the center as well as near the outside.

The cheese first appeared in 2004. Butlers calls it its original contemporary farmhouse blue and still makes it by hand at the family's rural Lancashire dairy.

• Producer: Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses
• Place: Rural Lancashire, England
• Milk: Fresh pasteurized cow milk
• Color: Orange from annatto
• Style: Soft, blue-veined farmhouse cheese

The place matters because Blacksticks is one modern expression of British cheesemaking.

It shares a county with traditional crumbly Lancashire cheese, yet its moist blue paste behaves very differently.

Do not identify it by orange color alone. Red Leicester has an orange paste too, but it is firm and does not carry blue veins.

Annatto is coloring and nothing else, so the shade of orange tells you nothing about strength. Judge a wedge by the veins running through it and by the smell of the cut face instead.

Fine Veins Give the Orange Paste a Mild Blue Tang

Cream and butter land first, followed by a mild salty tang from the blue veins. Butlers describes the blue flavor as mild, with more intensity appearing at the back of the palate.

The paste is soft enough to spread when warm. A cool wedge still holds its shape, but it bends and smears more readily than a firm territorial cheese.

Veining is not perfectly uniform. A piece with several blue channels will taste sharper than a mostly orange piece cut from the same wheel.

That variation is normal in a blue-veined cheese. The mold grows along tiny air channels created during production, so no two cut faces show the same map.

Compared with Blue Stilton's crumbly paste and longer peppery finish, Blacksticks feels softer and gentler. Danish Blue tastes sharper and often shows denser veining.

It Is a Practical First Blue Cheese

This is a sensible first blue cheese because the creaminess softens the impact of the mould flavour. The 2023 Great Taste judges called its blue character light and described it as a strong introductory choice.

Start with a small piece at cool room temperature.

Taste the plain orange paste first, then a veined section. The second bite shows exactly how much flavor the blue culture adds.

1. Cut a thin wedge with both orange paste and one visible vein.
2. Wait 20 minutes so the butterfat softens and releases more aroma.
3. Taste the orange edge to find the creamy base flavor.
4. Taste across the vein to judge the salt and blue tang.

People who dislike every trace of blue mold may still find it too strong. In that case, use a milder substitute for blue cheese rather than hiding Blacksticks under a sweet chutney.

Serve about 25 to 30 g per person when it shares a board with two other cheeses. Give it a separate knife so its blue culture and orange paste do not smear across the milder pieces.

What you put under it matters more than what you put on it. A plain oat cracker or neutral bread carries the salt away between bites, while a fruit loaf adds sweetness that hides the flavor you are trying to judge.

Come back to it a second time before you decide. A first taste of any blue reads mostly as salt, and the buttery base underneath is easier to find once the mold flavor stops being a surprise.

Choose the Pack Size by How You Will Use It

The current Butlers range includes a 150 g wedge, a 500 g baby truckle, melt slices, and a 2.5 kg whole cheese. The smaller wedge is the sensible first buy for two to four people.

Check that a wedge looks moist rather than wet. The orange paste may have small openings, but it should not show a dried dark edge or loose liquid in the pack.

A whole truckle can develop stronger veins as it matures. Buy that format only when you want to follow the cheese over several servings and can keep it properly chilled.

Cut a truckle in wedges from the center outward rather than in slabs off one end. Wedges give every serving a share of the outer paste and the veined middle, while slabs leave the last portions carrying all the strongest cheese.

Work out what a meal actually takes before choosing a format. At 30 to 40 g a serving a 150 g wedge is four meals, and the melt slices only save you anything if that is the amount you were going to use.

Use Blacksticks Where Gentle Heat Can Soften It

It melts easily because the paste is soft and high in fat. Put it on hot food near the end of cooking so it softens without losing all of its blue detail.

A baked potato is a good test.

Split the hot potato, add 30 to 40 g of cheese, and wait one minute. The paste will slump into the potato while the blue veins keep a mild tang.

For a burger, add a thin slice during the final minute. For toast, spread a warm piece over the bread and grill only until the surface starts to bubble.

• Baked potato: Add after opening the potato so residual heat does the work.
• Burger: Use one thin slice instead of a thick cold wedge.
• Toast: Grill briefly and stop before the fat separates.
• Salad: Tear cool cheese into small pieces so every serving gets orange paste and blue vein.

You can switch it for mild Cheddar when a dish needs more depth. Use a smaller amount at first because the salt and blue flavor become more noticeable as the cheese warms.

Blacksticks also works in a simple cream sauce, but add it after lowering the heat.

Stir until the pieces disappear, then taste before adding salt. The cheese already provides 2 g of salt per 100 g.

Watch for the fat breaking rather than for color. A soft high-fat blue turns oily and grainy well before the surface browns, so take it off the heat once the paste looks glossy and starts to move.

Pear, Walnuts, and Stout Balance the Mild Tang

A sweet or sharp partner brings the best out of it. Pear adds juicy sweetness, walnuts echo its earthy side, and a malty stout stands up to the creamy finish.

Sweetness and acid also balance stronger blue cheeses. Sugar reduces the sense of salt, while acid clears the butterfat from your palate.

Wine needs enough fruit to remain clear beside the mold flavor.

A lightly sweet white is a safer start than a dry, delicate bottle. The wine choices for blue cheese become bolder as the veins and salt increase.

Serve Blacksticks before a powerful blue on a mixed board. If Stilton comes first, its longer peppery finish can make the milder cheese seem flat.

Keep the fruit portion small enough to leave some bites of cheese plain. Tasting it alone helps you notice whether a piece is mostly buttery paste or crosses a stronger vein.

Each 100 g Provides 22.3 g Protein

The producer lists 391 calories, 33.5 g fat, 21 g saturated fat, 22.3 g protein, and 2 g salt per 100 g. The carbohydrate and sugar figures are both 0.1 g.

A 30 g board portion supplies about 117 calories before crackers, chutney, or drinks. Weigh one portion if you need a predictable amount of saturated fat or salt.

Blacksticks contains milk.

Butlers labels it vegetarian and says it is made with pasteurized milk. Check the pack when an allergy, pregnancy, or local food rule makes that detail essential.

Keep the Cut Face Covered and the Rind Dry

Refrigerate Blacksticks after opening and protect the cut face from drying. Cheese paper or parchment inside a loose container gives it cover without holding a wet film against the surface.

The producer says the rind is edible. You can eat it when it smells clean and feels dry, but remove it if the surface has picked up damaged packaging, grit, or an unpleasant odor.

• Wrap the cut face: Cover exposed orange paste after every serving.
• Keep it separate: Prevent the blue culture from touching mild cheeses.
• Warm one portion: Repeated warming speeds moisture loss.
• Use clean tools: A clean knife keeps crumbs and other molds out of the pack.

Follow the same basic steps used to store an opened cheese, but expect a soft blue to change faster than a firm block. Use the date and storage directions printed on your pack as the final limit.

Blue mold travels by contact in a home refrigerator. A clean knife for each cheese is what keeps the mild pieces on the same shelf from greening at the edges.

A soft paste sweats when it warms and cools over and over. Take out only what you plan to eat, because the wedge that goes back damp is the one that turns sticky on the surface within a day or two.

Blacksticks Blue FAQ