Pretty, identifiable cheeses

[Malawry]

I love serving cheeses, at home or at parties I cater. I've learned over time that it's better at a party with a buffet if you can pre-portion most of the cheese for easy sampling, and it's best if the cheeses are labeled. I own some nice white ceramic cheese picks with a gold dry-erase marker for this purpose.

I'm catering a small party tomorrow, and they want a cheese tray. So I bought some nice cheeses for them. But since it's not such a large party, some of the pieces of cheese are rather small--so by the time I preportion them, I won't have a chunk left that's large enough for holding the pick. Does anybody have any suggestions for what I can pick up at a regular supermarket to use for holding these picks? They are not exactly sharp, so they need to go in something firm.

I like to decorate cheese platters with fresh herbs and colorful fruits like kumquats or cranberries. How do you present your cheeses?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Does anybody have any suggestions for what I can pick up at a regular supermarket to use for holding these picks? They are not exactly sharp, so they need to go in something firm.

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A small, half melon of any type? a pineapple?

[Live It Up]

How about fresh figs or strawberries?

[Tonyy13]

What about a just-under-ripe avocado? It will add some color pop to the plate, and if you brush it with some oil or lemon juice, it shouldn't oxidize. I love serving my cheese with roasted grapes, either warm or cooled, walnuts that have been sauteed in butter with fennel seed, kosher salt, and chili flake, sherry vinegar/onion jam, and thin crostini or melba toasts. Good luck!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Fancy Fromage Fobs ... ... I actually like these a lot!

[weinoo]

How about a lemon or lime half - cut a sliver off the bottom so it'll stand.

I agree it's better to pre-portion a goodly amount of the cheese on a buffet, but it's hard with some types of cheeses - what do you do for a brie, for example? (or do you not serve it?)

Do you ever put cheeses on crackers or toasts for the buffet?

[petite tête de chou]

Different varieties of apples for each kind of cheese maybe? My concern with this though is that apples might be *too* firm and when someone pulls a pick they take the whole apple.

Edited October 6, 2006 by petite tête de chou (log)

[Pat Churchill]

How about taking a small cube of Oasis (the green foam stuff florists use) poke in little sprigs of herbs or general foliage, and stick the label pick in the top. Oasis blocks can be cut to the appropriate size with a sharp knife.

[Marlene]

I'd love to have cheese picks for this sort of thing! I always like glazed walnuts or pecans plus grapes to help decorate my cheese platters. To hold your pics, how about some pieces of apple, brushed with lemon to stop them turning brown of course. Although I have to admit, I rather like Pat's idea!

[rooftop1000]

I vote for radishes....they dont turn brown, a nice pop of color, and the shape is different than sliced cheese.

Tracey

[Malawry]

I ended up using radishes. Unfortunately, these ceramic picks are too heavy for most radishes. And then some people ate the radishes off the tray! I have a couple of weeks before the next cheese tray, so I may experiment between now and then. I adore the floral foam idea, I think that sounds pretty sharp-looking, but I suspect the foam will also be too weak to support the picks.