7 Cheese Picks for Your Next Holiday Party
If you’re still in doubt that cheese is flat out awesome for your next holiday party, these seven cheese picks will wow you.
From the sweet, creamy, sharp, moldy to the aged, these cheese picks will not only add intrigue to your party’s menu, but they’ll also validate our belief that almost everyone loves cheese!
So let’s get the party started!
1. Ricotta Cheese
Ricotta cheese can make your guests sing. It’s subtle sweetness and creaminess makes it a great addition to pancakes and sausage and kale bake recipes.
What more? If any of your guests want a healthy cheese with low calories and fat, they’ll love ricotta. It’s a truly lightweight at only about 15 grams of fat and 174 calories per 100 grams.
Whether it’s front and center like in lasagna or on the down low like in cookies or pancakes, ricotta cheese adds a perfectly rich, creamy texture to your party meal.
Bonus tip: slice your ricotta with a pronged knife, serve with either cracker, bread, or fruit.
2. Brie
Say hello to the “queen of cheeses”. Let this cheese with ancient origin from France pay tribute to your party guest this holiday.
Brie is great for dessert and comes as either a 1 or 2-kilogram wheel packed in a wooden box with all its awesomeness.
Bonus tip: Let your party guests cut a chunk of their favorite cheese with a thin cheese knife, and enjoy.
3. Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan cheese
Parmesan cheese is a top choice by cheese connoisseurs. It has a hard, gritty texture and is fruity and nutty in taste, your guests will kill to have some.
Only a true Parmesan made from cow milk will taste as good but an inferior Parmesan may have a bitter taste.
Bonus tip: Attach a chisel or heart knife with your Parmesan cheese for guest to cut into bite-sizes and have as a snack.
4. Monterey Jack
Monterey Jack is a semi-hard, classic American cheese with a very mild flavor. It’s subtly sweet and also nutty.
The Monterey Jack is delicate, customarily pale yellow, and made using cow's milk. It is commonly sold by itself.
Bonus tip: Set the thin knife side by side with the jack cheese and let your guest do themselves the honors.
5. Gruyere Cheese
Gruyère is a hard yellow cheese of Swiss origin somewhere in Gruyères, Switzerland. It is made from whole cow's milk and generally cured for six months or longer.
Creamy and nutty cheese when young, the Gruyères has a sweet but slightly salty taste. An aged Gruyère tends to have small cracks which impart a slightly grainy texture.
Bonus tip: Presented with a heart-shaped knife, your Gruyère can be cut and eaten in slices or as part of a cheese platter.
6. Feta cheese
Feta is a pickled curd cheese that has a salty and tangy taste enhanced by the brine solution. The texture depends on the age which can be extremely creamy, or crumbly dry.
It is of Greek origins and typically made from a mixture of goat and sheep’s milk.
Bonus tip: Feta can be used as a table cheese that is cut with a Pronged knife and served in slices or bite-sizes.
7. Provolone cheese
All the way from southern Italy, in comes the provolone cheese which is made from pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk.
It is a semi-hard, firm and grainy cheese with a pale yellow color. You can have it buttery, mild, sharp, spicy, sweet, or tangy.
Bonus tip: Cut into slices with a thin knife, your guest can enjoy provolone as slices eaten alone or with homemade bread and flatbread.
Lastly...
It’s true you want to provide plenty of cheese options but try not to overwhelm your guests.
Put out your cheese options, leave space between them, label each cheese, and provide a different knife for each.