What’s a cheese board? Basically, it’s a smorgasbord of delicious finger foods you like, but mostly cheese. Well, that’s my description of a cheese board. You pair your cheese with some red or white wine but if there will be kids, they can eat some of the biscuits and put some jam, or the nuts and some candies which you can include too.
To quote wikipedia though:
A cheeseboard (or cheese course) may be served at the end of a meal, either replacing, before or following dessert. The British tradition is to have cheese after dessert, accompanied by sweet wines like Port. In France, cheese is consumed before dessert, with robust red wine.[31][32] A cheeseboard typically has contrasting cheeses with accompaniments, such as crackers, biscuits, grapes, nuts, celery or chutney.[32] A cheeseboard 70 feet (21 m) long was used to feature the variety of cheeses manufactured in Wisconsin,[33] where the state legislature recognizes a “cheesehead” hat as a state symbol.[34]
I’ve seen several cheeseboards in blogging events I’ve attended this year and every time I see one, I am amazed and feel delighted just by seeing all those beautiful stuff gathered on one tray. I thought, it will be nice to make one for my family this year. And I was so happy to see their eyes glowed once they saw my first cheeseboard.
The more “sosyal” term for a cheese board is charcuterie but you have to have some kind of preserved meat included in your board if you want to call it as such. I wasn’t able to put some on mine this time, so cheese board it was.
My cheese board was simple but fun and my family was so happy with it. I got so many compliments from it. There are actually 4 kinds of cheese in this even if I can put more since I’ve got plenty of cheese Real California Milk sent to me for Christmas. I’ve used Jalapeno Jack, Cheddar Cheese, smoky tasting Fiscalini Cheese and Organic Creamy Cheese which has an herbaceous flavor but equally delicious and appetizing.
To make my cheese board more exciting for everyone, I’ve added some grapes, Robinsons Supermarket Healthy You mixed chocolates and nuts, Fita biscuits, baked pretzels and 3 different jams from and sliced oranges. See, it’s so easy to replace everything, just make sure to put the most delicious cheeses and Real California Cheese and Real California Milk are the perfect brands to check when choosing your cheese. #lookfortheseal
To help you more in creating your first cheese board, I’m sharing with you this article which was also shared to me by Real California Milk. Chef Josiah Baird, CMAB International Cheese Consultant, whipped up these ideas so that your guests will keep coming back to your dining table.
Ten Tips To Create A Fabulous California Cheese Board
1. Think variety. The more cheeses on your board, the better. Choose cheeses from different geographical locations for a variety of styles and textures produced from those regions.
2. Feature different cheese categories. You can go for fresh, soft-ripened, semi-soft, semi-firm, hard, washed rind or blue-veined.
3. Think of how you can lay out your cheeses. Each style of cheese has a different way of being placed on the cheeseboard. Hard cheese are usually cut into different shapes while soft cheeses can be left whole for guests to cut and spread onto crackers or sliced bread.
4. Try fruits. You can add fruits like apricots, figs and mangoes. These pair well with aged cheese. Fresh fruits like grapes, strawberries, raspberries are best paired with soft fresh cheeses. You can also pair cheese with tropical fruits like fresh mangoes, pineapple and jackfruit.
5. Try using nuts. Nuts are great accompaniment to many cheeses because of their sweet contrast to saltier sharp cheese.
6. Use crackers and bread. Certain cheeses are best paired with them. Soft cheese goes with soft bread, and hard cheese goes with crunchier crackers so each one doesn’t get lost in the texture of its companion.
7. Preserves and jams bring out the buttery qualities of cheese while complimenting its strength. Choose milder jams with fresh cheese and darker, stronger preserves for more robust cheese.
8. Aged cheeses are best suited for dry-cured meats like prosciutto, pepperoni and salami, while younger cheeses would be overcome by the strength of the meat’s flavor.
9. Consider a dash of mustard. The acidity of mustard is a perfect pairing with high-fat cheese and balances the richness of aged cheese.
10. Dark chocolate and aged cheese with caramel notes are simply made for each other! They make a great dessert pairing for a cheese board to finish.
There! I think I was able to follow some of these tips on my first cheese board. Now I know I must try the mustard and the dark chocolate pairings next time.
How about you? Are interested in making your own first cheese board? Let me know and share your experience here if you’ve tried one!
