Delight the gourmet food lovers in your life with a cheese gift basket. Perfect as a hostess gift, housewarming gift or for the holidays, a cheese gift basket can be easily enjoyed with friends and family. Ideally, a cheese gift basket will offer a bounty of only the finest cheeses and gourmet foods. Add a few fresh foods and beverages for the perfect cheese course. Whether served as hors d’oeuvres, as part of a light meal with salad or as dessert, a cheese course is a simple yet sophisticated addition to the table.

A cheese gift basket makes serving a cheese course easy and elegant. A cheese course is about observing and enjoying the contrasting and complementary flavors of cheese, gourmet food and beverages such as wine or beer. A cheese gift basket should offer at least three cheeses in a variety of textures and flavors. Some cheese gift baskets offer soft, firm and blue cheeses while others offer semi-soft and hard cheeses in a variety of milks such as goat and cow. The best cheese gift baskets will include cheeses that vary in taste from mild to sharp.

In tradition of serving a cheese course, the cheese gift basket will also include a variety of gourmet foods to be served as part of the cheese course to excite the palate. Mildly flavored crackers or Italian crostini serve to cleanse the palate after enjoying cheese. Fruity jams, pastes, and chutneys also provide sweet and sometimes savory notes. These are delightful with blue cheese and hard cheeses. Toasted nuts enhance the nuttiness of the cheeses while the briny flavor of olives contrasts with the richness of the cheeses.

A cheese gift basket can be enjoyed on its own or can be enhanced by adding a few fresh foods. A crusty baguette can serve as a delicious vehicle for creamy and spreadable cheeses. Fruits such as apples, figs, pears, grapes, berries, nectarines and melon are traditional cheese course accompaniments as their juicy and/or crisp textures contrast with the cheese. Their sweetness provides a counterpoint to the salty flavors of cheese. Dried fruits offer a chewy texture that contrasts with harder cheeses. Cured meats such as prosciutto add a salty and textural difference, especially with creamy or hard cheeses.

A cheese gift basket is also best enjoyed with wine or beers. Beverages are meant to cleanse the palate. Wines and other drinks should match the intensity of the flavor of the cheese. Champagne and other sparkling wines are traditionally paired with soft and bloomy cheeses such as Brie and Camembert. Beers can also be excellent with stronger cheeses such as Cheddar as the carbonation cleanses the palate. Blue cheese is also best enjoyed with a sweet wine such as Port or Sherry.

With the endless cheese, gourmet food and wine combinations, a cheese gift basket can be a part of an exhilarating culinary journey. For best results, just add friends and family.

Author Bio: Even though her passion for gourmet cheese was undying, Sara Kahn found shopping for it to be overwhelming, time consuming and confusing. She established The Cheese Ambassador to offer a simple way to select and serve the world’s finest cheeses either for home entertaining or unique cheese gifts.

Category: Food and Drinks
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