The guide to putting together the perfect cheese platter


WHAT TO CHOOSE: Select four to five, ranging from mild to strong, and a mixture of hard, soft and blue cheeses. Remember that intensity does not always correspond to what kind of cheese it is – not all blue cheese is stinky, for example. The level of pungency depends on the milk used to make it and the type of mould injected into it. For cheeses you’ve not tried, check with the cheesemonger about their flavours.

HOW MUCH TO BUY: 100g of cheese for each person. For a party of 10, stock about 1kg of cheese in total.

ARRANGING THEM: Place the cheeses on the board in ascending order of intensity, starting from the mildest on the left, so that guests can start with the gentle cheeses before moving on to the stronger flavours.

This article was first published in Simply Her March 2014.