Anyone have suggestions for cheeses that should not be missing from the cheese board this Christmas?

Blue cheese is a favourite, a good strong Stilton and a nice creamy Shropshire Blue are essential.

Le Roulé - I love it. yum!

I love applewood smoked cheddar and of course the thread I started yesterday was about gruyere, so I'd have to recommend that as well.

Last time I was home I had an amazing mature cheddar with wholegrain mustard and a wenslydale with cranberries - both from M&S I think and both delicious!

Époisses is another favourite, the only problem is that it can clear the room due to its rather strong smell

The key with this one is to get it out of the fridge well in advance and let it sweat a bit, then it is very runny and tastes superb, Yum.

I struggle to find anyone local that sells it, normally relying on a trip to france to pick it up.

I shall have to give it a try.


Yep, Applewood is a good one.

It's a soft cheese so you will need crackers to go with it. And it has garlic and herbs in it... lovely!

Reblochon

A decent Goat's cheese and a good quality Yarg - can't go wrong with those.

Stilton, Manchego, something stinky and runny, and a goat's cheese. People always say a really good Cheddar too, but I always find it gets left with all the others to choose from.

It is over 4 weeks until Christmas. Calm down until nearer the day is my advice ... and then buy good quality Cheddar, the emperor of cheeses. Second place goes to Livarot. Third place goes to an unpasteurised Brie.

Stilton,that cheddar with shallots and chives from ASDA,brie,camenbert and stinking bishop.

glastonbury chedder,cropwells bishop stilton,lincolnsire smoked poacher.try looking for a local farmers market

Roquefort

Wensleydale with cranberries, stilton with apricots. YUM. I know some people think fruity cheese is all wrong but I love it. Now I have read this thread I am vaguely excited about Christmas and I wasn't before. I think cheese is the only thing that can do it. That, and vast amounts of alcohol.

Can you buy unpasteurised cheese in this country? I thought it was against the law.

A nice brie left out of the fridge for a while.

And definitley a good strong farmhouse cheddar (also left out of the fridge).

Our local sainsburys has a selection of cheeses on the deli counter for xmas. One of them, which I had a taste of the last time I was in there, was a christmas pudding cheese which was bascially cheddar with loads of fruit it was lovely.

Yes, there are loads of unpasteurised cheeses for sale. Everyone in various governments seems to be ready to get rid of it but the French farmers are digging in their heels. Unpasteurised brie, camembert, or livarot are so much better than their pateurised versions.

Not strictly speaking for a cheese board, but I love baked camembert. I pierce mine with rosemary sprigs and slivers of garlic, bake and then when it comes out of the oven, serve with lots of warm crusty bread and tomatoe and/or onion chutney...yummy!

I also love wensleydale and cranberries, and a nice room temperature stilton and brie.

Ummmmmm that is by far my this time o year favourite cheese. I bought some from Asda last week and just sat with a knife and scoffed it!!!!

I also like wensleydale cheese with cranberry bits in it.

Cheese, so awesome, I did A level course work on it years ago

If you can get hold of Colston Basset stilton you'll love it.

Another favourite of mine is Seaters Orkney.

A good Cheshire is a nice change from ordinary cheddar.

Luckily I can get all these from, or near, Borough Market.

A strong Mature Lancashire would complete a fine cheeseboard.

Don't buy your cheese from the supermarket - see if you can find a small independent cheesemongers. There are some brilliant farmer-made British cheeses out there. What's more, they'll usually let you taste before buying.

My thoughts are that you want a mix of hard cheeses, soft cheeses and something of a cream cheese cosistency.

So, given that premise my ideal cheese board would be admittedly huge...

Wensleydale/Caerphilly - Hard crumbly
Red leicester/Double Gloucester/Normal Cheddar (not a fan of overly strong cheddars) - Hard waxy
Gouda/Jarlsberg - Hard waxy foreign
Roule - creamy garlicky
Brie - Soft and runny as hell if possible
Munster - also needs to be allowed to be runny.
Saint Agur - blue

I could go on but it needs to be stopped somewhere.
Only recently got into blue cheeses but a mature stilton is still too much for me.
Never saw the appeal of Manchego - incredibly bland and nothing special in my opinion.
Also not a fan of my cheese being messed about with - so no chives/cranberries/apricots etc bunged into it.

There's an independent cheese shop near my work that I've still yet to visit - I've walked past their window a few times and seen the famous 'Stinking Bishop' cheese there - has anyone had it? What's it like?

Applewood is a firm favourite and can't do without Ballyblue a soft brie like cheese with blue vein scrummy stuff.