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Christmas cheese board

Christmas cheese board

Cook 15 min 4 servings

Christmas is all about entertaining – curating some quality time with the people you love. And a well-crafted cheese board will give your guests the perfect pre- or post-dinner dining experience, filled with delicious Castello® cheese and delightful pairings.

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ingredients

Cheeses

Accompaniments

  • fresh cranberries with sugar; defrosted frozen cranberries also work
  • orange marmalade
  • crackers wrapped with ribbon and a piece of rosemary

preparation

1. Start by arranging the cheeses on your board from mildest to strongest in a clockwise order. Tasting in this sequence will allow your guests’ palates to fully appreciate the subtle flavours of each cheese before moving on to a more intense variety. 

2. Choose moderate serving sizes to avoid cluttering your board and overwhelming your guests. Cut the cheeses into various formats: small dice, slices and wedges. Serve some cheese as large wedges and remember to include cheese knives.

3. Place crackers loosely beside your cheeses and fill spaces on your board with bowls of figs, cranberries and almonds, preferably matching your board. Serve marmalades in small glass jars. Finish your board with a sprig of rosemary.

4. Place assembled tasting bites around your board in small plates as a starting point for your guests.

Celebrate Christmas with a luxurious cheese board

A Christmas cheese board brings warmth and indulgence to your festive gatherings, offering an experience that goes beyond just eating. Whether served before or after dinner or as the main meal, it invites your guests to linger and savour the rich, complex flavours of a carefully selected range of cheeses.

A variety of cheeses to allure your senses

Each cheese on the board has been chosen to evoke a unique sensory experience, making it an ideal centrepiece for your Christmas table. This selection of cheeses offers a perfect balance of bold and mild flavours, along with a range of textures that will captivate your taste buds. Castello® Danablu Cheese provides a sharp, tangy flavour with its characteristic blue veining, adding depth and a slightly salty edge to the board. Castello® Gouda Cheese brings a nutty sweetness, with a firm yet creamy texture that contrasts beautifully with the stronger cheeses. The Castello® Aged Havarti Cheese offers a robust, rich flavour with a touch of sharpness, while Castello® Creamy Havarti Cheese balances the board with its smooth, buttery texture and mild taste. Together, these cheeses create a harmonious tasting experience, offering something for every cheese lover.

Served with well-chosen accompaniments

A cheese board is only as good as its accompaniments, and this selection elevates each bite to a new level. Honey almonds provide a sweet crunch, while sugared cranberries add a tart contrast. Orange marmalade offers a citrusy brightness that pairs beautifully with creamy cheeses, while fresh figs add their natural honey-like sweetness.

Arrange bite-sized treats with the right pairings

Our professional chef and a food scientist have collaborated to select the cheeses and pairings below based on their complementary flavour profiles, textures, and hues.

  1. Castello® Danablu Cheese on a spoon with fresh fig and thyme.
  2. Castello® Gouda Cheese on a cracker with cranberries, caramelised almonds, and thyme.
  3. Castello® Aged Havarti Cheese on a cracker with orange marmalade, caramelised almonds, and fresh rosemary.
  4. Castello® Creamy Havarti Cheese on a cracker with fig marmalade, fresh fig, and thyme.

The bites offer a delightful mix of hue, flavour and texture. For more on how these elements will taste and feel on the palate, and how to make this cheese board the centrepiece of a sensorial festive get together, read our article, How to make a Christmas tasting experience.

You can also make a personal tasting box for loved ones so they can make a cheese board of their own.

Tips

Although everything is utterly delicious, do not overcrowd the board. It is better to add more as you go than present a cheese board with so much food that guests find it hard to know where to begin.

Give the presentation of the accompaniments a thought, too. Arrange marmalades, honey, and other liquids in small, decorative glass jars with small spoons that match their size. Use small bowls that match your board for drier accompaniments, such as nuts and fruits. Crackers can be stacked decoratively and tied with a ribbon to create an exclusive look.