Zingerman’s Creamery Cheese Board Cheat Sheets

Creamery Classics Cheeseboard

– Cheesemonger & CCP, Tessie Ives-Wilson

The Holiday season is upon us and everyone loves a beautiful cheese plate to get a party started. However, it can be pretty intimidating to design one that’s Pinterest or party worthy. Don’t worry! We’ve provided you with a few helpful tips from our shop manager and Certified Cheese Professional, Tessie for building the perfect cheese plate for your holiday celebrations. Using our Zingy inspired illustrations, we’ve broken down a few plates to help make planning easier.

Mongers Tip: As a professional cheesemonger, I am constantly being asked, “I’m putting together a cheese plate for (insert event here), what should I get?” There are a number of ways that you can go about putting together a plate that will wow your guests, but here are a few of my favorite ways to do it!

 

 

That “Zingerman’s Creamery Classic” Cheese Board

This classic cheese board is our own inspired tribute to some of our favorite cheeses that we make here at the creamery.

 

Mongers Tip: One fantastic way to showcase a sensational cheese board is to focus on a single producer. Highlighting a single producer can be a great way to introduce your friends to a great cheese maker you love (like Zingerman’s Creamery).

 

 

The “Creamery Spreads” Cheese Board

Snuggle up together on that snowy cold evening, throw another log in the stove and cuddle under a blanket on the couch. We have the perfect cheese plate for you. The “Creamery Spreads” cheese board is both warm and comforting. Whether the blustering wind or blizzard blows, this cheese board is sure to keep you warm.

Creamery Spreads

 

 


That “Last Minute Holiday Party” Cheese Board

 

Oops, you forgot that you have a holiday party to go to tomorrow. What do you bring!? This board was inspired and created for those of us who always seem to (Cough) procrastinate. Using a variety of cheeses to balance out the flavors and textures. We’ve created a stunning board that’s relatively easy to assemble in a short amount of time.

 

 

That “I can’t look at another leftover” Cheese Board

 

It’s been a few days after that holiday soirée, and you are sick of eating the leftovers that you’ve been picking at all week. This particular cheese board is simple but interesting enough to satisfy your need for other substances.

Mongers Tip: For this plate, we suggest focusing on a single milk cheese board. This particular combination is all about texture. Highlighting the things you can do with the milk from a single kind of animal gives you a chance to explore the flavors and textures you get by treating the milk differently in the making and aging stages of cheesemaking. Cow’s milk is usually going to be the easiest one to find in a variety of cheeses, but there are more and more great goat and sheep’s milk cheeses on the market by small, artisan producers you can find these days!

 

 

The “Impress the in-laws” Cheese board

Oh no, the inlaws are coming over and the immediate panic has set in! Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! We suggest a “classic” cheese plate is the best route to go. This classic cheese board combines different producers and milk.

Mongers Tip: The key to making this one work, is to have a variety of flavors and textures represented. Three to five kinds of cheese is a good number for this type of plate — too few and you don’t have enough variety represented; too many and you risk overwhelming your guests with options. Start fresh and light, then progress to more aged and harder cheeses. Remember, variety is the spice of life!