How to Create The Perfect Cheese Grazing Board

Wow your friends and family this festive season with a gorgeous grazing board packed with Yorkshire cheese and delicious accompaniments!

Why choose a grazing board?

A cheese board revolves around cheese (surprise, surprise) and the centre of attention on a charcuterie board is the cured meats. A grazing board is the best of all worlds! Packed with the essentials of a cheese board while pairing with an array of accompaniments from meats to fruits and nuts, there’s something for everyone. Not to mention they look beautiful and are easy to eat too.

What cheeses should I pick?

Allow approximately 50g of cheese per person for your grazing platter; we recommend 4-5 varieties. Think about a selection of cheese varieties that will give you a contrast of flavours, textures and colour. We would include a selection from the following….

• A ‘crumbly‘ variety – of course Yorkshire Wensleydale has to be the winning choice here!

• A ‘hard’ cheese with strong flavour – such as Extra Mature Yorkshire Cheddar from The Yorkshire Creamery.

• A naturally smoked variant – Smoked Yorkshire Wensleydale or Cheddar offer superb flavours.

• A buttery and creamy texture cheese – Kit Calvert Old Style Wensleydale is a firm favourite of ours!

• A Blue cheese – Wensleydale Blue has broad appeal for newcomers to blue cheese and connoisseurs alike!

• Not forgetting a Fruity cheese – Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries is an eye-catching favourite, which adds a splash of colour!

Find out more about our full range of cheeses.

Remove your cheese from the fridge an hour before serving, so that you can enjoy the full flavour and texture of the cheese. It’s always best to be served room-temperature.

Accompaniments

Serve your cheese with a selection of accompaniments – think about a wide variety of flavours and textures, along with the visual look and style.

• Choose a selection of crackers to serve – different types of cheese will match better to different varieties of crackers, and this will also add visual appeal. Slices of baguette can also work well.

• Add some sweet flavours such as fruits, like grapes, fresh cut apple or pears and dried fruit, along with savoury flavours like cured meats, nuts, pickles and olives. You can really highlight a variety of textures here. Stick to seedless varieties of things like olives and grapes to make sure your guests aren’t caught out!

• A naturally sweet chutney made from apple, sultanas and traditional spices, pairs particularly well with Yorkshire Wensleydale, and a drizzle of honey over Wensleydale Blue will enhance the flavour profile.

• If you want a Yorkshire touch, why not add some slices of fruitcake… it is a festive tradition after all!

How to set up your grazing board

1. Place your cheese first
2. Add any bowls or jars for dips and condiments
3. Place larger items, such as grapes
4. Fill in the spaces with smaller accompaniments
5. Serve and enjoy!