presentation

The cheese platter or board

First off, the platter or other support should be made of a natural material. We recommend glass, wicker, wood or ceramic; but avoid using an ordinary plate -cheese deserves special treatment.

Composing your platter

There is one golden rule: Cheeses should be tasted in increasing order of flavors. So it’s indispensable to arrange them in a circle, clockwise, from the freshest and mildest to the most-fermented or strongest.

Leave enough space between cheeses to make cutting easy. But above all, be sure they don’t touch each other.

A cheese platter should include at least one soft ripened cheese (brie, camembert, coulommiers, etc.), one pressed cooked-curd cheese (e.g. cantal, comté, cheddar), one veined soft ripened cheese (such as roquefort, gorgonzola, bleu des Causses, etc.) and one goat’s-milk cheese (crottin de chavignol, banon, pouligny-saint-pierre, etc.).

One sure-fire approach is to start with the goat’s-milk cheeses sheep’s-milk cheeses, and continue with the cow’s-milk cheeses, always arranged in increasing order by flavors. You can of course keep to this principle and decide to bring together different cheese-producing regions within a single family, or to make up a cheese platter specific to the season.

A well-composed platter of cheeses can prove to be an extraordinary gustatory adventure. But composing it requires skill and extensive knowledge of cheeses and the regions where they are produced. That is why we recommend that you listen to the man and women who are there to help you in our fine cheese shops.

1 | 2

La décoration

The shapes and colors of the cheeses can be used decoratively only if you follow the Golden Rule concerning flavors.

You can stick little labels into each cheese showing the different origins.

Decorate you platter with a few green leaves, rinsed and wiped (vine leaves, chestnut, oak) and perhaps a few raisins, but don’t go overboard.

Finally, cover your cheese platter with a clean cloth until serving.

Serving

A knife is used to cut the cheese, but a fork is indispensable for serving.

Ideally, cheese should be cut with a knife that has been rinsed in hot water and then wiped. Use a separate knife for each family of cheeses served, to avoid mixing flavors. If your platter includes a particularly strong cheese, use a separate knife for it.

A cheese does not have a uniform taste throughout; therefore it should be cut in such a way as to include both the heart and the rind.

1 | 2