If you are having a dinner party, one of the best ways to top it off is by presenting a cheese board. You can’t merely stick any old cheese on there though as that shows no thought. Think of it as a perfect time to get your guests to try something new, and seize the chance to put together an amazing cheese board.

There are several ways of putting your cheese board together but they all involve selecting some sort of common theme.

The theme for your board can be anything from milk type to the style of cheese or the region it comes from. You could also select on the basis of the accompaniment such as cheeses that go with Merlot. You could also showcase organic cheeses.

Think about what the rest of your meal is going to be and you may find that that leads you towards you theme. For example, if you are having antipasti and an Italian main and desert, it probably makes sense to continue your Italian theme through to your cheese board.

If you have no obvious theme yet and you really want to make an impression, why not try a smelly cheese board? Cheeses such as Stinking Bishop are pretty pungent but they taste great. Your cheese selection will be the talk of the evening.

There are of course other ways to be outstanding. An interesting way of presenting your board is to include a hot cheese selection which will give the cheeses different properties from if they are left cold. The cheeses will melt nicely and your board will be that bit different from everyone else’s normal room temperature offerings. Remember to keep the cheeses separate though so that you can taste them individually.

Whatever you do, a bold selection of cheeses is best. You can’t just cater to the most delicate palette because your board will have no wow factor. Also, try and avoid the obvious cheeses so that your guests won’t be able to simply eat what they know. It will be a food adventure for them and they will thank you for it.

If you really want to showcase just one cheese, you can present it with contradictory and complimentary accompaniments, but make sure that if you go down this route that the main cheese will be liked by all of your guests because they will have no choice.

If you aren’t sure, the best thing to do is to see your local cheese monger for advice or order a cheese board from a cheese supplier.

Of course you will need something suitable to present your cheese selection on so look at wooden cheese boards – there are some really nice ones around with beautiful grain.