How to make the best Christmas cheeseboard

I spend weeks researching my Christmas cheeseboard, dreamily scrolling through the product pages of online cheesemongers and wondering whether I can get away with a board of seven cheeses (I can’t). It gives me that same childlike pleasure of circling things in the Argos catalogue.

In the past I would seek out weird and wonderful cheeses, made with the most innovative methods, washed in the craziest liquids and rolled in the most interesting ingredients. I’d then bore everyone around the table senseless as I introduced each cheese in detail. While these more leftfield cheeses were a joy to discover, read about and taste, it was always the more familiar, traditional ones that got polished off first.

That’s why I’m stripping things back a little this year, making my cheeseboard a celebration of the booming British cheesemaking scene. Whether you opt for these specific cheeses or not, the blueprint (four distinct cheese styles, plus a wildcard) is my favourite way to build a board, as it offers a wide variety of textures and flavours.

The blue: Stichelton, Nottinghamshire

Christmas without stilton? It’s a hard no from me. A thick wedge of the cheese, topped with a toasted walnut and a drizzle of honey, with a small sip of port afterwards, is one of my top food experiences of all time. Along with cheddar, stilton is the best example of traditional British cheesemaking and the fact that it’s associated with Christmas makes it an easy choice every year.

That said, I’m not choosing a stilton this year (technically speaking). Stichelton is a blue cheese that looks and tastes similar to stilton, but for legal reasons (stilton has protected status and therefore must be made in a certain way) can’t be called stilton. It differs because it’s made with unpasteurised milk, which adds a little more complexity. The beauty of stichelton is down to the cheesemakers, however – I think they produce something that beats the original cheese every time.

The soft: Yarlington, Gloucestershire

Something oozy and creamy is a must on the cheeseboard. You generally have two options: something with a bloomy rind (think brie and camembert) or something with a washed rind (such as taleggio and reblochon). Bloomy rinds generally offer up mushroomy, buttery richness, while washed rinds produce something more floral and complex. Some people are put off washed rind cheeses due to their strong aroma, but in fact they often taste mild and gentle.

Yarlington is a washed-rind cheese with a mild yet deeply savoury flavour, and it became one of my favourites as soon as I tasted it. The cheese is washed in barrel-aged cider from famed producer Oliver’s, which adds a balancing tang and, provided you’re serving it at room temperature, it’s deliciously creamy and soft. If you like reblochon, you’ll love Yarlington (it was inspired by the French cheese).

The goat: Yr Afr, Gwynedd

A goat’s cheese offers a change of pace on the cheeseboard, often bringing a strong punch of farmyard tang to cut through the richer, buttery flavours of cow’s milk cheese. You can go soft, fresh and citrussy, or firm, matured and sharp.

Yr Afr (‘The Goat’) is a new Welsh cheese that’s young, fresh and deeply creamy. It has the same mushroomy umami as brie, thanks to the mould-ripening, which, when combined with the mellow tang of the goat’s milk, produces something moreish. It also has a wrinkled, squiggly rind, which looks great, opening up to a smooth, oozy centre.

The hard: Isle of Mull Cheddar, Isle of Mull

Many of the UK’s best modern cheeses are influenced by continental styles. But cheddar is totally British, and I can’t imagine a cheeseboard without one. Proper clothbound cheddar with a mature tang, studded with those wonderful crystals, is a different beast to the sweeter, creamier blocks in supermarkets (although they certainly have their place). I also think cheddar is the best vehicle for chutneys and pickles, which can sometimes overpower milder cheeses.

Made on the Scottish Hebridean island, Isle of Mull cheddar is my favourite. It’s a little more buttery than the traditional cheddars from the South West, and I like the fact that the cows are fed not only on grass and hay but also fermented grains from the Tobermory Distillery down the road. Whether that affects their milk, I don’t know – but the sweet, almost boozy flavours of the cheese mean I like to think so.

The wild card: Spenwood, Berkshire

This fifth slot is where you can indulge the curd nerd within you and get something different and exciting. I tend to leave this open and make a spur-of-the-moment decision when I’m at the cheese counter buying everything else. You can opt for something that appeals visually (there are some beautiful cheeses covered in pressed flowers, for example), one that’s made locally or from a region you hold dear, or one that offers something none of the others do.

This year I’ve chosen a sheep’s milk cheese that’s like a super-nutty British answer to Spain’s manchego or Italy’s pecorino. Spenwood is firm like a good parmesan, but it has quite a light milky flavour with just a little bit of pepperiness afterwards. It’s great with quince paste, honey or dried fruit.

Tips for making the best cheeseboard

• Serving your cheese chilled reduces the flavour and, in the case of many soft cheeses, alters the texture. Give your cheeses at least two hours out of the fridge (and any packaging) before eating. They’ll be fine if covered and they’ll taste far better for it
• Go to a proper cheesemonger. You’ll unearth smaller-scale producers doing wonderful things next to the best examples of more established names. If there isn’t one near you, there are some fantastic ones online
• Cut your cheese just before serving. Great big wedges of cheese are dramatic, but by cutting them into different-size wedges and sticks, the board as a whole is more interesting to look at – and a lot easier to eat from

What to serve with your cheeseboard

A good selection of cheeses is all well and good, but there are a few extras that turn a board with cheese on it into a cheeseboard:

Crackers or biscuits offer a texturally contrasting vehicle to get cheese from the board to your mouth. Pollyanna’s savoury biscotti (below) are quick to make, last a while and provide a crumblier crunch than the brittle crisp of a cracker, with the fig and pecorino adding an extra layer of flavour.

Nuts and cheese are a cracking combo – see the aforementioned pairing of stilton and walnut. There are usually some hanging around from a mixed nut selection at Christmas, so they always make an appearance on my board.

Chutneys offer sweetness and acidity to balance the salty creaminess of the cheese. They’re brilliant with cheddar, but they can mask the flavours of milder cheeses. Enter Pollyanna’s hot and sweet cocktail onions (below)– full of tang and sweetness but still mild enough to let the cheese be the star.

Charcuterie makes a cheeseboard feel like a posh ploughman’s, which is of course great, and it’s another chance to get some top-quality artisanal produce on there.

Grapes offer pops of juicy sweetness with enough acidity to act as a palate cleanser between cheeses. They also bring colour, brightening up the array of browns, beiges and creams.

Discover four of the best cheese from Northern Ireland, plus a knockout mix of accompaniments to make your cheeseboard sing →