Cheese Platter

Creating or compiling a cheese platter is a masterpiece. It is way more than just piling cheese onto a plate. Cheese tasting is as sensitive an issue as wine tasting. To put a basic cheese platter together, it requires the love of all types of cheese. In spite of all the rigmarole of arranging different cheese on a plate, it can be safely said, that it is also one of the easiest appetizers to put together in the shortest time possible. All the cheese that is available in the market can be categorized into three basic cheeses. Cheese is made from cow, goat or sheep milk. Any cheese platter should have one of each type. There can be three to six different varieties of cheese. They can vary in color, texture and milk to give a variety of flavour and texture. At the same time, the variety should complement each other.

The cheese texture usually ranges from soft and runny to semi-hard or crumbly to hard. The taste ranges from mild to medium to strong. The platter is, at times, called a cheese clock where the mildest cheese is placed at “6 o’clock “and the strongest is placed at “3 o'clock”. Fortunately, there is no limitation, when it comes to choosing cheese. There is gouda, cheddar, brie, herbal goat to name a few. One tip to be kept in mind when it comes to cheese is, always take in the aroma before tasting the cheese. The milder cheese should always be tasted first and the pungent one later. The texture is important too.

Arranging the platter is an aspect one should not ignore. For the base of the platter, you could use a board made of wood, stone or marble and if you cannot find one of these, then even a dinner plate will be sufficient. Cheese can either be displayed as a whole or cut into slices, squares or triangles. The knife should vary from cheese to cheese. Sharp for the hard ones, a butter knife for the semi hard ones and scoop out the soft ones. Any cheese dish is incomplete without wine. For 3 or more varieties of cheese, minimum 2 types of wine should be served.

If you do not feel like putting a cheese platter together yourself, and yet wish to impress your dinner guests, here is a secret: you can buy cheese platters from your neighbourhood grocery shop or place an order online, they usually have an extensive selection of cheese platters. But not to worry, your secret is safe with us!