Cheese Party

The life of the cheese party

"Cheese party." The two most magical words in the English language. A cheese party is a little slice of everything that is wonderful in life, combining festive celebration with the unrivaled flavor and texture of cheese. It's a feast of conversation and culinary delight that always leaves guests wanting more.

In Wisconsin, we can get a little fanatical about our cheese parties. We know that every cheesy get-together is going to feature the real life of every party – Wisconsin cheese. Which is simply the tastiest, highest-quality, most award-winning cheese in the world. When you invite Wisconsin cheese to the party, everything seems a little brighter. Guests seem more interesting, conversation more sparkly, and you, the host, seem like a genius party planner. You'll never have to twist our arms to come to a cheese party in Wisconsin. You pretty much had us at "cheese."

Take a peek at our website to find some amazing cheeses for your next party. Search our recipe index to find great cheese platter ideas. Or scroll down to pick up additional tips on throwing the best Wisconsin cheese party.

Our best cheese party ideas

Here are our recommendations for ways to spice up your cheese party.

• Choose the best cheese. When it comes to selecting the cheese, a good rule of thumb is to include 4 to 6 varieties that offer a range of tastes and texture. Our favorites include hard cheeses like aged parmesan or asiago along with semi-firm cheeses like gouda or an orange cheddar cheese. You can also include semi-soft cheeses like havarti and muenster as well as soft cheeses like burrata and fresh mozzarella. And it's always nice to include a blue cheese like gorgonzola or cheddar blue.
• Pair with charcuterie. Offer a selection of whole-muscle cuts like prosciutto, cured sausages like salami, and forcemeats like paté.
• Add flavor accents. Round out your cheese board with a selection of breads, crackers, nuts, fruits, vegetables, dips, jams, and spreads. Balance the salty and savory flavors of the meats and cheeses with ingredients like honey, dried fruits, and dark chocolate.
• Select a beautiful surface. A large wooden cutting board, a stone server, a marble slab, or a piece of slate can all make a great cheese board.
• Give your spread some shape. Place something tall like a class of breadsticks in the middle of the board and arrange taller foods and dishes around it. Then fill the spaces in between with foods that lay flatter on the board.
• Pay attention to visuals. Appearance is a great part of the appeal of a cheese board. Place ingredients of different colors and textures next to each other for more pleasing arrangement.
• Cut the cheese but not the bread. Slice the harder cheeses ahead of time to make things easier for guests. But leave the bread uncut if possible so it stays fresher.
• Don't move the board. It's best to arrange your meat and cheese board in place so that you don't disturb your creation when transferring it from one location to another.

The cheese party is on in Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, we cheese party hard. We have a lot to celebrate, after all. Our 1,200 cheesemakers have won more awards – 5,552 and counting – than cheesemakers in any other state or country. Wisconsin produces one-quarter of all the cheese in America, and roughly half of all the artisan cheese. And we have the only Master Cheesemaker program in the world apart from the one in Switzerland.

We also make more than 600 flavors, styles and varieties of cheese – more than anywhere else on earth – by constantly pushing the boundaries of what cheese can be. And with so much cheese to choose from, it pretty much takes a 24/7 cheese party for us to show some love to all our cheese, because we'd never want to play favorites.

So, next time you're shopping for the best cheese in the world, just look for the Proudly Wisconsin Cheese™ badge on the label. Consider it your invitation to the party.