The cheese platter is a staple of upscale parties and picnics. It's also one of the easiest ways to impress your guests because it requires only a few ingredients and minimal effort on your part. But if you want your cheese platter to be perfect, then follow these tips for making sure every bite counts:

Choose a variety of cheeses

The best cheese platter is one that's varied, with a variety of textures and flavours. That said, you don't want to overwhelm your guests with too many soft, mild or stinky cheeses that can all be found in our luxury cheese hampers. Here's what to aim for when selecting your cheeses:

• Use two or three hard cheeses such as cheddar or Gloucester

• Use two or three medium-hard cheeses

• Use one strong cheese like a northern blue

• Use one soft cheese

This lineup should give guests a good variety of cheeses without one particular type dominating the flavours.

Choose your accompaniments

To make a cheese platter, you need to choose your accompaniments. It's important to have a variety of bread, crackers and other foods that will complement the cheeses you're serving.

When choosing these items, keep in mind that they should be able to cleanse the palate between different types of cheese so your guests can enjoy all the flavours at once. In addition, they should be able to cut the cheese—or help it go down smoothly! Some great options include chutneys, olives or cured meats.

Serve ripe fruit with your cheese platter

If you’re going to include fruit like grapes or figs, then make sure they’re ripe. The best way to determine if the fruit is ripe enough for your cheese platter is by checking the firmness. It should be firm, but not too hard. The best way to do this is by pressing on the flesh of the fruit—if it gives a little bit, then it's ready to eat.

If you're serving fruit with your cheese platter, ripen all your fruit to just below the peak. You don't want it to be overripe because that's when flavour starts to diminish and texture changes as well (too soft). But since there are so many different types of fruits out there, each one has its own ripening timeline and therefore can take anywhere between two days for berries or up to six weeks for apples!

Arrange the cheeses from mildest to strongest

Arrange the cheeses from mildest to strongest, so people can try them in stages. You don't want to overwhelm guests with a plate of super-strong cheese at the beginning of their meal; they'll never be able to taste anything else. Also, arrange them in a way that makes it easy for your guests to serve themselves pieces of cheese and then move on with their meal.

When choosing cheeses for your platter, consider what they'll be served with—you may want something stronger than you would normally serve alongside crackers or fruit. Try serving one milder variety alongside one more intense option like blue cheese. As always, it's important not only to balance flavours within each course but also between courses as well!

Conclusion

With a little planning and preparation, you can make your own cheese platter for a party that will leave everyone impressed. It doesn’t take much time or money, and you get to control the types of cheeses served. If you want even more variety on your plate, consider serving fruit with one type of cheese or pairing different types of bread or crackers with different cheeses. It’s also important to pick out good accompaniments such as fruit, olives and crackers so people have some options if they don't like one type of cheese over another! Our cheese subscription offers a variety of cheeses which you can choose from.