If you’ve ever been gifted with an impressive basket with all kinds of different cheeses, you might have wondered how to make the most of it. You can’t help but be tempted to munch on a piece of each, but you might also feel like sharing this amazing experience with your family and friends. The best way to do this is to organize and prepare a fun evening with a cheese platter and a selection of wines.

 

What you need

When you look in your cheese basket, you need to create a checklist. Take note of what you’ve placed in your cart and make another list of all the other cheeses you need to purchase to complement your cheese platter.

The flavours you want to include are:

  • Aged (Chedder or Goat Gouda)
  • Soft (Camembert or Brillat-Savarin)
  • Firm (Parmigiano-Reggiano or Manchego)

  • Blue (Valdeon, Stilton or Gorgonzola)

Different flavours

The flavour of any cheese is affected by the type of milk used. So you can spice up the flavours and create wonderful diversity by including cow, goat and sheep milk cheeses in the cheese platter. While diversity is important, you should also make sure you serve at least one familiar cheese and place cards with each batch to make it easier to identify.

 

Quantity

As for quantity, make sure you have at least 3 pounds of cheese for every 8 people you invite. If you include other snacks along with cheese, you can buy less cheese and prepare meat and salad dishes to complete your cheese platter. Be sure to include bread and crackers to go with the cheese. You can also add different types of nuts.

 

Strong cheeses

If any of the options in your cheese platter have a particularly strong aroma and flavour, it would be best to separate them from the other cheeses so your guests’ senses aren’t completely overwhelmed. You should also prepare your dish about an hour before your guests arrive so the cheeses have time to adjust to room temperature. Cold temperatures dull the flavour and are enjoyed much better after they’ve had a chance to warm up a bit.

Casual or formal

Depending on the type of event you’re hosting, your affair with cheese and wine can last a few hours. It’s all about socializing and socialising, so be sure to serve more than one cheese platter around the room to avoid a huge traffic jam compared to the adjacent empty corner. Treat it like an evening social and keep it dressy yet casual. You don’t want to spend your evening fumbling around serving your guests or cutting more cheese to fill your plates. Make sure you have some leftover sliced cheese for backup in the fridge and remove it before your table gets empty. Include plenty of napkins, toothpicks and garnishes, plus extra glassware.

 

It may sound simple, but not everyone has the same taste for cheese. When you order or receive a cheese basket that you want to share with others, keep these tips in mind to make your cheese platter a tasty and memorable success.