What are you putting on your New Year’s Eve cheese board? My panforte, I hope. Thick with toasted nuts, dried fruit, cocoa and baking spices, it’s awesome with blue cheese. Or any cheese. Open a dessert wine, maybe an Italian vin santo or tawny port. Leftover panforte keeps forever, or so I’m told. If you’re a guest, take panforte with you. It’s easy to make, easy to wrap, and it doesn’t crumble. (The name means “strong bread,” after all.) Part fruitcake, part confection, panforte will make your holiday cheese board the star of the meal.
Read moreDrama Queen
A buttery Stilton is the conventional choice for a holiday cheese board, but who wants to be conventional? This year, try a nice wedge of Shropshire Blue, Stilton’s more colorful twin. It’s every bit as tasty as Stilton but more of a drama queen. I was delighted to see it at a cheese counter recently because it’s relatively uncommon in the U.S. I suppose merchants find it easier to sell what’s familiar—Stilton—than to take a chance on stocking a cheese you don’t know.
Read moreYour British Cheese Checklist
Of course you want some buttery Stilton on your holiday cheese board. So do I. But Britain has so many more sublime cheeses to try. Alas, with a no-deal Brexit looming, Britain’s cheesemakers are at risk, potentially facing a huge drop in sales to Europe. Time to show them some love. I asked Tracey Colley, who runs the UK’s Academy of Cheese, to name the 10 British cheeses that every American cheese lover should know. Availability is spotty, unfortunately. Importers have been reluctant to bring in the best from Britain because punitive tariffs implemented last year have made these costly cheeses even more so. Stephanie Ciano of World’s Best Cheese, an importer, says she is hopeful that the tariffs will disappear under the new Administration.
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