Holiday Cheese Board : Choose Local!

A good cheese board can set the right tone for an entire holiday gathering - even if it’s just for the folks within your own home. It makes yet another evening at home feel special and treats your household to a choose-your-own-adventure of different tastes and textures. Here’s a few suggestions for an entirely Michigan-made sweet and funky board for the holiday season! 

The Cheeses

Idyll Farms Idyll Gris and Idyllweiss

For my board, I chose two goat cheeses from Northport, MI cheese maker Idyll Farms with a semi-soft texture and a cream-forward taste, which played well with our sweet and savory additions. 

The Crunch

Zingerman’s Bakehouse Palmiers and Pecan Raisin Bread

It isn’t the holiday season without something sweet on the board! This may be surprising but these palmiers stood up wonderfully to the funk of a goat cheese. And the nut bread, especially after being toasted, was a fantastic way to enjoy some jam.

The Sauces

Farm Club Fruit Mustard, Detroit Food Academy’s Slow Jams Apple Spice Jam, and Iron Fish Distillery Barrel-Aged Honey

This eclectic mix of Michigan sauces and sides rounded out this cheese board. Farm Club creates all kinds of fantastic sauces for their market, and their fruit mustard created the perfect balance towards savory with all of the sweet on this board. Bringing seasonal spice to my creamy cheese selections, the spiced apple jam from Detroit Food Academy perked up the spread. Another complement to the board included Iron Fish Distillery’s barrel-aged honey which offered distinict whiffs of whiskey to the board.

How are you choosing local on your cheese board? For more ideas about how to make this holiday season bright, start shopping our gift guide.

Claire Butler is the Communications Coordinator for Taste the Local Difference. She is also a current student (an almost graduate!) of the Great Lakes Culinary Institute.