Part of a Meal or a Meal in Itself

 

Some cultures serve cheese prior to the main meal, in Australia we tend to serve cheese at the very end of a meal, after desserts. The French serve cheese prior to dessert so you always finish the meal with something sweet. Whether you serve cheese as an accompaniment to a meal or as a meal in itself, a well presented cheeseboard gives you and your fellow diners the opportunity to indulge in exotic, intriguing flavors and textures from around the world.

 

 

It's a good idea to serve no more than four or five cheeses. Four or five cheeses ensures that you can cater for all tastes and still provide sufficient quantities for pure indulgence. When planning your cheese board, consider the rest of the menu and the wines being served.

 

Some may not like very strong tasting cheeses. Rare and luxurious cheeses are not necessarily strongly flavored with a pungent aroma - many of our cheeses are light and are subtly flavored.

 

 

Combine your cheese selection with the best crackers, crisp breads or artisanal bread. Fruit pastes, fresh or dried fruit and unsalted raw and roast nuts will complete an impressive display.

Finding a Cheese Merchant

Find a good cheese merchant by entering your post code in the "Where to Buy?" box in the right hand column of this page. This will return a list of retailers in your area. In most cases you will find a great range of cheeses as well as many of our gourmet deli lines.

 

 

World's Best Cheese

Chooses cheeses with a variety of textures and flavours, rather than pick more than one hard cheese, try one hard cheese such as Maffra Clothbound Cheddar from Gippland or Quesa de Manchego from Spain, one surfaced ripened cheese such a the Isigny Brie from Normandy or Woodside McLaren Vale Camembert, and a blue, maybe the Tarago River Gippland Blue or the historic Papillion Roquefort Black Label.

 

Preparing Your Cheeseboard

Choose a cheeseboard which is big enough for your selection of cheeses and accompaniments, with enough room for cheeses to be cut easily.

The board itself might be made out of quality timber or marble, try to choose a board which enables the individual cheeses to "stand out"

Cheeses should be removed from the fridge, unwrapped and allowed to stand, covered, so that they can be served at room temperature.Not only does this make them easier to cut but most cheese tastes better when at room temperature.

The overall presentation of your cheeseboard can be finished off with the inclusion of quality cheese knives. One cheese knife for each cheese should help ensure that cheeses don't get mixed.