How to Create a Dream Cheese Plate

Slate Cheese Board above, $19.95, Swoozie’s, Denver

“Something old, something new, something stinky, something blue,” as the saying goes. Not so fast, says Pollyanna Forster, owner of the wine and cheese emporium Eat + Drink. Creating a dream cheese plate, she says, is a bit more complex. “Building an artisan cheese plate is like creating a painting; there are thousands of colors, hues, and mediums.”

THE BASIC RULE
Choose an odd number, picking three, five, or seven cheeses. Start with a goat, sheep, and cow cheese; if you want to expand to five cheeses, add a blue and a mixed-milk. “All of this deductive cheese work gives you balance and something for every one of your guests to relish,” explains Forster.

ACCOMPANIMENTS
Eat + Drink Artisan Nut-Fruit Blend; Red Camper Deliciousness Colorado Whiskey Peach Jam; Frasca Food & Wine Red Pepper Jelly; Olympic Provisions Salami; and buttery Castelvetrano olives. Finally, the bread and crackers: Choose Skinny Crisps (gluten-free), 34 Degrees Crisps, or Nita Crisp and combine with fresh baguette or ciabatta.

PREPARATION
Set your cheese platter about an hour ahead of serving time so that the cheeses are at optimal temperature for flavor and expression.

PAIRINGS
Forster suggests the following wines to pair with the cheese plate pictured above: Muse Verdejo (white) and Sharecropper’s Pinot Noir (red).