Cheeses for cheese boards
Served on its own, sliced or cut at the table, with bread, fruit and something to drink.
A cheese board serves cheese for its own sake, cut at the table and eaten with bread, fruit and something to drink. In France it comes after the main course and before dessert; in Britain and Ireland, often after dessert with a glass of port; in Spain and Italy, as tapas or antipasto. A good board balances styles, milks and strengths, so that each cheese shows off the others.
Building a board
Three to five cheeses are plenty for most tables. A common pattern is one of each kind: a soft bloomy or fresh goat cheese, a firm aged cheese such as Comté or Manchego, a blue, and perhaps a washed rind. Mixing cow's, goat's and sheep's milk adds variety. Allow about 30 to 50 grams of each cheese per person after a meal, and more if the board is the meal. Take the cheeses out of the fridge an hour before serving.
Order and cutting
Taste from mild to strong, so that a blue or a washed rind comes last. Cut each cheese so that everyone gets a fair share of rind and centre: wedges from the middle of a round, long slices along a wedge of hard cheese. An old rule of etiquette says never to cut the point off a wedge of Brie, which leaves the next person with only rind. Use a separate knife for blues and strong cheeses, so their flavour does not travel.
What goes with it
Bread and plain crackers, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, honey and fruit pastes are the usual partners. Spain serves Manchego with membrillo, quince paste; Britain serves Stilton with port; France eats its board with bread and red wine. In India, cheese boards from the country's growing number of artisan dairies set Bandel, Kalimpong and hill-farm cheeses beside chutneys, fresh fruit and roasted nuts.
Worth knowing
- Comté: A firm, nutty anchor for any board
- Brie de Meaux: The classic soft cheese
- Stilton: Blue served with port
- Manchego: Served with quince paste
- Roquefort: Sheep's milk blue for the end of the board
- Crottin de Chavignol: A fresh goat note
- Époisses: A strong washed rind to finish
- Kalimpong cheese: A mild Indian hill cheese
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Cheese boards on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMarble cheese
A processed cow's milk cheese with distinct colored marbling patterns.Cow · Hard · Savoury and brothy
🇮🇪 IrelandWicklow Farmhouse Cheese
A range of handmade cow's milk cheeses from Arklow, Ireland, spanning soft bries to hard cheddars.Cow · Bloomy rind · Nutty
🇮🇪 IrelandSt Tola
Handmade goat's milk cheese from Inagh, County Clare, ranging from fresh logs to aged wheels.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreBlue cheese
A family of cheeses defined by blue-green mold veins created through deliberate inoculation and piercing.Cow · Semi-soft · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇮🇹 ItalyPecorino
A family of Italian hard sheep's-milk cheeses with protected status.Sheep · Hard · Buttery and creamy
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandAppenzeller
A hard, washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from northeast Switzerland with a herbal brine rind.Cow · Hard · Nutty
🇬🇧 United KingdomCaerphilly
A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from South Wales with a mild lemony taste.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic
🇬🇧 United KingdomRed Leicester
A hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from England, aged for months and coloured with annatto.Cow · Hard · Sweet and caramel
🇭🇷 CroatiaPag cheesePaški sir
A hard sheep's-milk cheese from Croatia's Pag island, aged up to eighteen months.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇪🇸 SpainMahónformatge de Maó / queso de Mahón
A cow's-milk cheese from Menorca that ranges from soft and mild to hard and sharp.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇮🇹 ItalyPecorino Toscano
A firm Tuscan sheep's milk cheese with PDO status since 1996.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇩🇪 GermanyNieheimer Käse
A sour milk cheese from North Rhine-Westphalia ripened in hops and flavored with caraway.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 1 moreKanterkaas
A hard Dutch cow's milk cheese flavored with cumin and cloves, aged in Friesland.Cow · Hard · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreAlpkäse
A seasonal hard cow's-milk cheese made on high Alpine pastures in summer.Cow · Hard · Tangy and lactic
🇬🇷 GreeceXynotyro
A hard, sour whey cheese from Greece made with sheep or goat milk.Mixed · Hard · Tangy and lactic
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Caerphilly: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Mahón: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Pecorino: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pag cheese: Silverije, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Red Leicester: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Pecorino Toscano: Dan, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Colby-Jack: Stephen Shep, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Tola: HighKing, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kanterkaas: AlexanderVanLoon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Blue cheese: No machine-readable author provided. Brookie assumed (based on copyrig, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Appenzeller: Ulled, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nieheimer Käse: Tsungam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Alpkäse: Guy Waterval, CC BY-SA 4.0, source