Cheese Pairing Ideas

The list of proverbs pointing out the goodness of cheese combined with fruit is long. Cheese and fruit is a sublime pairing, it's true, but the combination of dairy products with other ingredients are many. We want to discover all of them, and search for new possibilities.

As a general rule, the marriage between a cheese and other foods or drinks should always emphasize each of the individual components on the board.
The combination in which one factor dominates the others, instead of exalting them and give them importance, is not a successful one. This is a golden rule  which applies in the kitchen, in work, in love,  in life: harmony is the rule. But let's go back to cheeses!

Finding the perfect companion for a cheese is not easy! The important thing is not to cover the taste of any product, therefore avoid matching two foods or one food and one drink both with particularly intense and persistent flavors.

In pairing cheese with food you have two alternatives:

• you can choose the concept of correlation, for example combining a sweet cheese with a jam or jelly and a piquant one to a spicy mustard;
• or you can follow the philosophy of contrast, for which a very savory cheese, a blue cheese maybe, can be combined with honey.

In a cheese platter presentaion you cannot forget the two main companions of cheese: bread and wine, but remember that cheese is a special food that you can serve with many other interesting ingredients.

This guide aims to provide you some guidelines on how to make the following pairings:

• cheese and wine;
• cheese and beer;
• cheese and crackers or bread;
• cheese and honey;
• cheese and fruit and jam;
• cheese and chocolate;
• cheese and tea and many more!

Discover our suggestions and lear how to arrange a cheese platter worthy of a gourmet restaurant!

Main image: Cheese platter, by FTD Flowers.