A Cheese Tasting Party: A Guide for Texans
A cheese tasting is a cheap, easy and impressive way to bring friends together. This guide covers how to pick cheeses, order the tasting, keep things safe in the heat and make it fun for people who think they do not like cheese.
How do you choose cheeses for a tasting?
Aim for variety without overload. Five or six cheeses is plenty for most groups. Pick a mix of textures and styles: something fresh and soft, a bloomy rind, a semi-firm or washed rind, an aged hard cheese and, if you like, a blue.
Try to include at least one Texas-made cheese. Many Texas creameries make excellent products, and a local pick starts a good conversation. Ask the person behind the counter at a cheese shop or farmers market what is good right now, and ask where the milk comes from. If you have a tight budget, buy small wedges, since a few ounces of each cheese is enough for a small group.
What order should you serve them in?
Go from mild to strong. Start with fresh and light cheeses, move through soft and semi-firm, and finish with aged and blue cheeses. This keeps your guests from losing their sense of taste early.
Label each cheese with its name, the type of milk and the maker. A small card on a toothpick or a chalkboard does the job. Include a note if a cheese contains animal rennet or other ingredients that matter to guests.
- Fresh goat or cream cheese to start
- Bloomy rind such as a brie style
- Semi-firm cheese such as a gouda or cheddar
- Aged hard cheese for contrast
- Blue cheese as the finale
What do you serve with cheese?
Keep accompaniments simple. Plain crackers, sliced baguette, fresh fruit, nuts, honey and a few pickles are plenty. You want to taste the cheese, not drown it.
For drinks, offer a mix: a crisp white wine or beer, something sparkling and a nonalcoholic option such as sparkling water or cider. Serve alcohol responsibly and make sure everyone has a safe ride home. Nonalcoholic choices matter for guests who do not drink. Skip heavy sauces and strong spreads, which can overpower the cheeses.
How do you keep cheese safe and tasty?
Take cheese out of the fridge about an hour before serving so the flavors open up, but do not leave it out for long, especially in hot weather. The USDA and FDA publish food safety guidance, and the CDC has advice for people who are pregnant or have weak immune systems about which cheeses to avoid.
Use separate knives for each cheese, since mixing flavors ruins the experience. Keep soft cheeses on a cool plate, and cover leftovers tightly. Ask guests about allergies ahead of time, since milk allergies and lactose intolerance are common.
How do you run the tasting itself?
Give each guest a small plate, a pencil and a simple scoring card. Ask them to smell first, then taste, then say what they notice. Keep it relaxed, since there are no wrong answers.
For beginners, a few guided questions help. Is it creamy or crumbly? Sweet, salty or sharp? Does the flavor change as you chew? Making notes helps people remember which one they liked. Keep a pitcher of water and plain crackers on the table so people can cleanse their palates between cheeses.
Why does the milk matter?
Cheese begins as milk, and the animal, the feed and the season all affect flavor. A cow in a Hill Country pasture and a goat in a Panhandle barn will give different results. Learning where cheese comes from adds meaning to the tasting.
If you want to understand more about the milk side, the herd basics at this dairy herd care guide are a good start, and the Dairy MAX site has dairy information for the Southwest. A short story about each cheese maker adds a human touch without any need for a lecture.
What if you want to host a bigger event?
A big event needs more planning: permits, insurance, a cold chain for the cheese and people to help. If you are charging admission or selling cheese, check local and state rules with the Texas Department of Agriculture and your city or county health office. The event planning resource on our sister site has checklists.
For a bit of humor and more reading, farm.FM dairy and farm food stories are fun, and a farm.FM story about cheese is a good companion. Over at farm.FM, they say a good cheese plate needs only three things: cheese, more cheese and a friend who brought the good knife. For a closer look at how cheese is made on the farm side, ask your county office of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension about dairy foods courses.
Sources and further reading
- USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
- FDA: food and drug safety
- CDC: public health
- Dairy MAX: dairy promotion in the Southwest
- Texas Department of Agriculture: state agriculture agency
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Texas extension service
Ask locally: Your local cheesemonger or a Texas creamery can suggest cheeses and pairings for a tasting.