Top 5 Things To Serve With Cheese!

Perhaps I'm biased since I work at Cheesyplace, but I think cheese is the most interesting and fun food of all time. So when I serve cheese, I always keep that in mind and try to make it as enjoyable as possible for both myself and my guests.

An important thing to remember is to not be afraid to try new things. There's no specific right or wrong way to do it, it often comes down to personal preference. 

If your guests don't love one of your pairings, it's not the end of the world. At least you went outside of the box and tried something new. 

And if you're looking to put together an exciting cheese platter, check out our article 4 Steps to Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate!

So let's get right into it!

Quick links:

1. Fruits

Head to your local fruit market and pick several fruits to serve alongside your cheese plate. Here's the only catch; no apples, pears, or grapes. Everything else is fair game. 

Dried fruits are great as well, a combination of fresh and dried fruits can make for a nice platter.

Cheese has so many different flavours happening, that it pairs with so many foods. So even the most exotic fruit, whether it's sweet, bitter, sour, etc., it will probably match some family of cheese. Taste it with soft cheese, hard cheese, blue cheese, goat cheese and see what works. 

I'm loving the fresh Quince right now. I let them ripen and then serve thin wedges with my cheese. Go find some right now, they probably won't be around for too much longer.

California Dried Apricots

2. Nuts

Here's another classic. Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds are the usual go-to nuts when serving up cheese.

But what about something different?

There are so many varieties to choose from. Spanish Marcona Almonds are amazing with all kinds of cheese.

Try serving Brazil nuts served with blue cheese, or Macadamia Nuts with goat cheeses. Try some roasted and some raw. Salted or unsalted. Both work!

Spanish Marcona Almonds with Truffle 

3. Chocolate

This is a new one that's been popular in the last couple of years. Who knew cheese would work well with chocolate. But someone was crazy enough to try it and it's been a 'thing' ever since!

If I was doing a cheese and chocolate tasting and I wanted to seriously examine the combinations, I would probably just focus these two items and nothing else. There's so much going on already.

If you're just doing a more casual cheese tasting then you can definitely mix it up.

When we did our last chocolate tasting, I purchased 5 different types of chocolate. From milk to dark and in between.

I don't know much about chocolate but my local chocolate shop does. We tried them all with 6 different cheeses and it was incredible! The guests loved it and thought it was a great time.

Mayana Chocolate and Caramel Bars 

4. Jams, Preserves, Jellies, Chutneys, Honey

The good thing with these pairings is the selection of unique and fun products out on the market today, along with new ones being introduced all the time. There's just so much to try. Everything from sweet to spicy, to a combination of both. 

I'm currently loving Nutty Honey by Rosewood Estates. It's a simple combination but works so well. 

We sometimes get a Spanish 'cake' made from dry figs, dates, walnuts, almonds and plums which has been popular with the guests recently. We've included it with our cheese club and have gotten great feedback on it.

Mrs. Bridges Jams, Preserves, and Chutney 

5. Olives & Antipasto

This one depends on the timing of your cheese plate. If you're serving it on its own, before or during dinner then it works. If you're doing it as a dessert course then skip this one :).

Olives, grilled artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, grilled eggplant, tapenades, and more. All great with a certain type of cheese. I tend to only serve them with aged cheeses like Manchego, Pecorino, and other hard cheeses.

Doesn't work as well for bries and triple cremes, for me at least. I find the richness of the antipasto with the richness of brie is just too much. The only soft cheeses I actually love with antipasto are fresh goat cheeses (Valancay, Chevrot, Pouligny, etc.) if you can get your hands on them. 

That's it for now. Try these pairings and let me know how they went!

Either on Facebook/Twitter or email cheesyplace@gmail.com 

I'll be blogging myself for now, as we're currently looking for some passionate cheese lovers to write for us about their cheesy adventures (if you know someone, please hit us up!). 

 Talk soon. 

- Vitali 
(Co-founder Cheesyplace.com)