7 tips to make your cheese board the star of the night

1. Variety is the spice of life

You don’t need to buy 25 kinds of cheese to impress your guests. But it is important to diversity your selection so people can find one (or more) that they enjoy. To make your cheeseboard truly irresistible, pick three to five cheeses that vary in milk sources, textures, colours and flavours.

Select cheeses from the following five categories:

Fresh

Fresh cheeses are simple and make amazing foils to other flavours. Fresh cow cheese like Mozzarella or burrata tends to be more approachable, with sweet, light and clean-tasting flavours, while cheeses made with goat or sheep’s milk have a wonderful salty intensity.

• Try: Galbani Mozzarella or fresh goat’s milk cheese

Bloomy

From cold, flaky butter to whipped buttercream textures—there’s a lot of love about decadent, bloomy cheeses. The cheeses in this category all share an edible rind, which adds an extra dimension of flavour that will take your cheese board to new heights.

• Try: Président Camembert or Brie

Semi-soft

Semi-soft cheeses are real crowd-pleasers because they’re incredibly versatile and act as the perfect middle-ground on your cheeseboard.

They’re typically sold in blocks, are rindless, and reliably tasty, falling somewhere between sweet and milky to deliciously tangy in flavour.

• Try: Le Petit St-Paulin or Chausée aux moines

Hard

These cheeses are firm, savoury, low in moisture content, and aged anywhere between two to 36 months. The ageing process determines the intensity of the flavour, meaning the longer a cheese is aged, the sharper and tangier it gets.

Hard cheeses will add depth to your cheese board thanks to complex flavours like toasted hazelnuts, browned butter or bright acidity.

• Try: Président Comté or Balderson Extra Old:

Blue

Blue cheese isn’t just one cheese.

It’s an entire tribe of cheeses known for its pungent aroma, deep saltiness and signature blue veiny mould.

But it’s also so much more than that.

Blue cheese can be Brie-like in texture or have a natural, drier rind with a fudgy interior that crumbles beautifully. It can go from buttery with a bitter finish, to bacony or mellow salt with a spicy pop.

Blue cheese is a great way to add excitement to your board and to invite people to discover something new.

• Try: Societé Roquefort or Bleu d'Auvergne

2. How much do I need?

Quantities can be tricky to gauge if you’re putting together a cheese board for the first time.

How much cheese should I buy? Is it better to buy more than not enough?

Here’s how to determine the right amount of cheese you need to keep your guests happy and satisfied. When are you serving your cheese board?

When are you serving your cheese board?

• For pre-dinner or cocktails: Keep it light, about 30-35g of each type of cheese per person.

• For your after-dinner cheese course: Needs to be a little heartier than your opening act, about 70g of each type of cheese per person.

• For the main course: If your cheese board is the star of your event, plan on 150-200g of cheese per person.

3. Check the clock

Taking your cheese out of the fridge right before your hungry guests arrive will lead to a disappointing cheese-tasting experience since cold cheese isn’t the most flavourful.

The secret to serving up a wow-worthy board comes down to when you decide to take the cheese out of the fridge.

Specialty cheeses need to relax at room temperature before being served so their textures, flavours and aromas are at peak deliciousness.

That means removing your cheese from the fridge one hour before serving up your delectable cheeseboard.

4. Choose your pairings wisely

Remember! The cheese is the real star of the show.

So choose pairings that will complement your selection and enhance your board in the best way possible.

• The breads

Stuffed breads and strong, flavourful crackers can overpower the beautiful flavours and aromas of your thoughtfully selected cheeses. Instead, reach for plain-tasting bread like baguette, seed crackers, breadsticks or lavosh bread, which will really make your cheese sing.

• The accompaniments

Now for the fun part: the accompaniments. This is where you want to let your creativity shine. Don’t just go for the typical pairings. Get out of your comfort zone and go for sweet and savoury accoutrements like green and black olives, fruity chutneys or preserves, mustards and tapenades. Cured meats like Prosciutto di Parma, Saucisson Sec or Serrano ham also make a great addition.

• The palate cleansers

Don’t forget to add a pop of freshness! Apples, pears and purple figs always make for perfect palate cleansers, especially after eating a salty or rich and buttery cheese.

5. Order matters

It should look something like this:

Soft, fresh goat’s milk cheese → Camembert → flavourful washed rind like Muenster → hard aged Cheddar cheese → Blue cheese

6. Slice it perfectly, every time

Cheese cut incorrectly is still delicious cheese. But when you’re putting together a carefully crafted cheese board for guests, understanding how to slice each type correctly will make their tasting experience that much better. When you’re showcasing cheese on a board, it’s always better to cut a few slices to help get your guests started.It also gives them an example of how each cheese should be cut

Spreadable cheeses: Spoon soft, runny cheeses into small bowls and keep a spreader nearby so guests can smear the cheese on a baguette or crackers.

• This goes for cheeses like fresh goat cheese, Président Brie Spread and Turkish labneh.

Soft cheeses: Use a butter knife or a small paring knife to cut the cheese lengthwise into triangle-like wedges.

• This goes for soft cheeses like Président Camembert and Brie.

Semi-firm cheeses: These should be sliced with a sharp chef’s knife or a cheese planer that you drag across the flat surface of the cheese to create sheet-thin slices.

• This goes for semi-firm cheeses like Emmental and Gruyère.

Hard cheeses: Some cheeses can be tough to slice through. For harder varieties, it’s best to use a cheese cutting wire which will help you glide right through the paste.

• This goes for hard cheeses like Président Comté, Parmesan and Cheddar.

Blue cheeses: When it comes to this nose-tingling hunk of cheese, it’s best to just chunk it out using the tip of your knife to break the cheese into bite-sized nuggets.

• This goes for blue cheeses like Société Roquefort and Président D'Auvergne Portions.

7. Presentation is everything

You want to put forward a cheese board that looks as good as it tastes. Since softwood boards made of oak, pine, cedar or fir tend to transmit woody flavours onto the cheese, we recommend reaching for a more rustic board made of hardwoods like maple, birch or olive.

Feeling fancy? Elevate your cheese selection with a marble or slate slab.

The key is to have a board with items that are of various heights and colours. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be building crowd-pleasing cheese boards in no time.