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.
🇹🇷 TurkeyGolot cheese
A granular, pressed Turkish whey cheese from the Eastern Black Sea region.Mixed · Semi-hard · Salty
🇺🇸 United StatesBergenost
A triple-cream Norwegian-style butter cheese from New York with green wax.Mixed · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇨🇳 ChinaKefir cheese
A tangy, creamy cheese set using kefir culture rather than rennet or acid.Mixed · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇬 EgyptMishمش (meš)
A fermented Egyptian salty cheese aged in buttermilk brine until sharp and pungent.Mixed · Bloomy rind · Salty
🇦🇱 AlbaniaMishavin
A soft, crumbly Albanian cheese aged in skins and wood from sheep or cow milk.Sheep · Buttery and creamy
🇪🇸 SpainCabralesqueso de Cabrales
A pungent blue cheese from the Picos de Europa mountains of Asturias, Spain.Mixed · Blue · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇦🇲 Armenia and 4 moreChechilչեչիլ
A brined, stringy pasta filata cheese from the Caucasus region.Mixed · Brined · Salty
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreWhey cheese
A dairy product made from the liquid remaining after curds are separated during cheesemaking.Mixed · Whey · Sweet and caramel
🇵🇹 PortugalCastelo BrancoQueijo de Castelo Branco
A soft Portuguese cheese from the Beira Baixa district, made with goat or sheep milk.Mixed · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy
🇪🇸 SpainGamonéuQueso de Gamonéu
A lightly smoked, mixed-milk cheese from the mountains of Asturias with a moulded rind.Mixed · Smoked · Savoury and brothy
🇮🇹 ItalyRobiola
A soft-ripened Italian cheese from Piedmont and Lombardy, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Bloomy rind · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇹 ItalyCasciotta d'Urbino
A semi-soft Italian cheese from the Marche region made with sheep and cow milk.Mixed · Semi-soft
🇮🇹 ItalyCaprino
An Italian goat's-milk cheese made in fresh or aged styles across several regions.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇸 SpainCampo de Montalban
A semi-firm Spanish cheese from La Mancha made with a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk.Mixed · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇬🇷 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.
- Cabrales: PDPhoto.org, Public domain, source
- Gamonéu: Jrfdiaz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Castelo Branco: Adriao, Public domain, source
- Whey cheese: Illustratedjc, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mishavin: Tizilohja25, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Golot cheese: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mish: Reem Al-Kashif, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bergenost: Jon Sullivan, CC0, source
- Chechil: Valen1988, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Caprino: Number55, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Robiola: Andrea Marchisio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source