Learn How To Serve Cheese

Round and square cheeses

Slice in wedges, like a pie or a cake, from the center, fanning out.

Rolled or log-shaped cheeses

Cut in thick or thin parallel slices, depending on the cheese. Larger slices can be cut in two or in four.

Small sizes

Cut in two or in four.

A wedge of Brie

Starting on one side of the triangle, cut the wedge in parallel strips.

Blue cheese

Cut in wedges from the center outwards. Each slice should contain blue veins for more flavour.

Choosing appropriate knives

When preparing a cheese platter or a small cheese-tasting party, try to have a different knife for each variety or at least two knives per plate, one for mild cheeses and one for sharper cheeses. This way, each cheese will have the appropriate knife and the different flavours won’t blend together. A few small kitchen knives and a cheese cutter are generally sufficient.

Large kitchen knife

Ideal for cutting larger pieces of cheese. Use a well-sharpened serrated knife with a solid blade. Cooling the blade under cold water will prevent the cheese from sticking.

Forked knife

This is the traditional cheese knife with two small tips with which to pick up the cut piece of cheese. It should be used with soft, semi-firm and hard cheeses like Brie, Gruyère and Brick.

Butter knife

The butter knife is ideal for fresh-curd cheese and cream cheese.

Triangular blade knife

This knife is used to cut small pieces of firm or hard cheese such as Cheddar and Parmesan.

Cheese spade, or cheese wire

These are used to cut thin slices of semi-hard and hard cheeses like Gouda and Emmental.

Cheese graters

There are different grates for different cheeses. Grates with jagged, star-shaped holes are well-suited for grating hard cheese, yielding fine-grained granules. Small straight holes produce thin curls of cheese; these graters are used for softer cheeses. A grater with larger holes will render wide strips or ribbons of cheese and are best suited for shredding semi-hard and hard cheeses.