Cheeselandia House Party

This is a sponsored post by Cheeselandia – Wisconsin Cheese. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.

On December 4th, I had a small gathering with friends and neighbors at our home, noshing on several different varieties of Wisconsin cheese and accompaniments. If you know me, I love a good cheese/grazing/charcuterie board. This cheesy gathering was the perfect, laid-back way to kick off the holiday season!

My favorite part of cheese boards is picking out items I think would taste great together. This time, Cheeselandia took the guesswork out of choosing the cheese by sending me 4 different kinds to try: Aged Top Hat Cheddar, Gouda, Sancho Cruz and Butter Kase, all from Door Artisan Cheese Company. All I had to do to complete my board was pick out the perfect accoutrements!

Such gouda hunks of cheese from Wisconsin!

About an hour before my cheese party was about to begin, I took out my cheeses to come to room temperature on the counter. Did you know that if you set your cheese out at least an hour before serving, the flavor is better? In the meantime, I started to gather everything else for my cheese board and plan out how I wanted everything to look because aesthetics are everything!

Here is what I decided to put on my cheese boards along with the cheese:

  • Grapes- black, green and purple
  • Crackers- I chose a variety of “table crackers” and flatbread crackers
  • Meat- soppressata and prosciutto
  • Fig jam- my absolute favorite thing to spread on cheese, crackers, anything!
  • Cornichons

Though my accompaniments were few, what I chose made a tasty impact and went well with the 4 different kinds of cheese! The Aged Top Hat Cheddar is probably the cheese of my dreams. It was so good!

To assemble my boards, I started with slicing hunks off of each one and then either slicing or breaking them into pieces and placing them around the boards. To add height and dimension to the boards, I used large hunks of each cheese as sort of anchors near the outer edges of the boards. From there, I added my jar of fig jam, a bowl of cornichons and then filled in the empty spaces with crackers, fruit and meats.

A brag-worthy cheese board should have a good variety of cheeses- different texture and tastes, one or two different crackers, meats and then some sweet and savory extras. The best thing about a cheese board is that the sky (or your budget and bank account) is the limit!

My guests and I enjoyed noshing on everything and everyone agreed that cheese from Wisconsin is the best! Pro tip: spread some fig jam on something similar to the Aged Top Hat Cheddar and thank me later. It is the most delicious combination of sweet and salty!

If you’re interested in learning more about Wisconsin cheese, head over to Cheeselandia and submit your info. They have a really great app to connect with fellow Cheeselandians, and it’s fun to connect with others over a shared love of cheese!

Tell me your favorite thing to add to a cheese board!