Create the perfect cheeseboard
When preparing a cheese board, plan on serving from three to five cheeses (any more than that will overwhelm the palate). You want to tempt the taste buds with cheeses of distinctly different styles, tastes, and textures.
For a simple, but interesting cheese board, start with these three selections: one soft cheese (Brie, Camembert), one firm cheese (Farmhouse Cheddar, Cornish Yarg) and one blue vein cheese (Oxford Blue, Cashel Blue). To expand your offerings, add goat or sheep milk cheese (Ragstone, Wigmore) and a washed rind cheese (Celtic Promise, Pont L'Eveque).
For a more creative twist, build your cheese board around a theme. You might offer cheeses from different milks (cow, sheep, goat) or cheeses from a particular region or country.
Differently shaped and coloured cheeses will help to make the cheeseboard visually interesting.
To allow the cheeses to be enjoyed at their best, bring them to room temperature for optimal flavour, so remember to take them out of the refrigerator up to two hours before serving.
Finally serve your cheeses with rustic bread, chutneys and fresh fruit to complement the range of flavours.
Here are a couple of cheeseboard selections to get you started:
South of England Cheeseboard Suggestion
Lyburn Gold (Hampshire) - 2.5kg approx
Produced by Mike Smales on the edge of the New Forest, this popular cheese is made with pasteurised cows milk and is ripened for 10 - 14 weeks. Lyburn Gold is a semi hard cheese that has a creamy smooth texture and a delicate mild flavour.
New Forest Blue (Wiltshire) - 1.5kg approx
Produced by Ness and Gwyn Williams at Redlynch on the Wiltshire / Hampshire border near Salisbury, New Forest Blue is a wonderful creamy blue cheese, similar in texture to a dolcelatte but with a stronger flavour similar to a mature stilton.
Rosary Goats Cheese (Wiltshire) - 275g
A creamy moist and soft cheese with a light fluffy texture made from goats milk. Rosary Goats cheese is made by Christopher Moody at The Rosary near Salisbury in Wiltshire.
White Velvet - Sussex Camembert (East Sussex) - 1kg approx
Produced by Arthur Alsop and Nick Walker near Heathfield in East Sussex, this is a soft naturally rinded cheese made from full fat pasteurised cows milk. It has a lovely soft, creamy, earthy flavour and is suitable for vegetarians.
Mayfield (East Sussex) - 1kg approx
Mayfield is another cheese produced by Alsop and Walker and is a semi hard wax coated cheese made from full fat, pasteurised cows milk. It has a creamy sweet nutty flavour which varies in strength from mild to full dependent on age and contains naturally developed eyes similar in style to emmental.
Continental Cheeseboard Selection
Manchego
This historic cheese is produced in the La Mancha region of Spain, from pasteurised sheep's milk. It has a number of holes and a mild, slightly briny, nutty flavor.
Livarot
Livarot is one of the great Normandy cheeses and one of the oldest. It is thought to have monastic origins, having a typical washed rind and pungent aroma. Depending on the length of maturing, the pâte is golden yellow with a taste that is perfumed and slightly piquant.
St Maure Goats Cheese
St Maure is made from goats milk and is soft with a natural rind. The cheese is log-shaped with a creamy texture and a full, goaty flavour.
Gorgonzola
Gorgonzola is a traditional, creamy Italian, blue cheese. The greenish-blue penicillin mould imparts a sharp, spicy flavor and provides an excellent contrast to the rich, creamy cheese.
Camembert
Made from cow's milk. At the beginning of its ripening, Camembert is crumbly and soft and gets creamier over time. Its aroma carries a hint of mushrooms and the cheese has full, slightly buttery flavour.