Here is our sought-after approach to building a well-rounded cheese board that offers beauty to the table, plus variety in flavors and textures - something for everyone to enjoy at your Thanksgiving gathering. This board will be sure to win the hearts of all: from your cheese nerds to casual cheese lovers. In fact, this is our top selling cheese board at our cheese shop. 

The flavors of these cheeses celebrates the best of autumn, and includes cheeses that are only available during this season. Plus some of these cheeses we are only able to ship to you when the weather is cooler.  

We’ve broken our flavor formula to 5 cheeses and 5 accompaniments. 

 

 

 

CHEESES 

The crowd pleaser: Signature Gouda 

Flavors: Butterscotch, caramel, salt 

It is a well-rounded and delicious cheese, making it a perfect addition to your Thanksgiving cheese board. L’Amuse Signature Gouda is a Dutch cheese and is considered the best of all goudas! This is a classic well-aged gouda, with strong notes of butterscotch, caramel and a bit salty. It has a beautiful amber color, plus a dense and crumbly texture. This is a hard cheese with velvety texture and nutty, buttery, salty flavor, plus hints of caramel and hazelnuts. 

 

Something Creamy: Green Hill

Flavors: buttery, silky, subtle mushroom 

This double cream, award-winning, soft-ripened beauty is incredibly versatile with a wide range of pairing options. A Sweet Grass Dairy original, it has a subtle mushroomy flavor with a silky texture. Green Hill is made from pasteurized cow’s milk and soft-ripened. Its buttery flavor, silky texture and thin bloomy rind highlight the quality of the milk. Each wheel is individually handcrafted and ripened for two weeks before being hand wrapped for shipping. 

 

A head turner: Rogue River blue 

Flavors: Pear brandy, vanilla, toffee, truffle, and fig, with pronounced “blue” flavor

As fall arrives, cooler temperatures and wet weather bring renewed growth to the pastures. This is when cow’s milk is at its best – and it’s only during these months that ROgue makes their limited edition, seasonal Rogue River Blue – a cheese named World Champion at the 2019/20 World Cheese Awards. After 9 to 11 months of careful aging in caves, the cheese is hand-wrapsd in organic, biodynamic Syrah grape leaves that have soaked in pear spirits. 

 

For the cheese aficionado: L’Etivaz

Flavors: Flavors: wild flowers, nutty, sweet, ends with stone fruits

This is a Capella Cheese exclusive cheese. L’Etivaz AOP is a stunning alpine hard cheese crafted on the Alp Tompey in Switzerland by a small family that both tends to the cows and their creamery. The cows graze on wild flowers and herbs on the alpine foothills, which leads to nuanced flavors and aromas in the cheese. The cheese is exclusively produced between May and October using traditional recipe and methods including copper vats and wood burning fire and only one wheel is produced at a time.

 

Something Classic: LA OVEJA NEGRA MANCHEGO

Flavors: grassy aroma and a fruity, nutty, tangy and sweet flavor

Made at the Parra Family farm in La Mancha Spain from organic pasteurized sheep’s milk. This Manchego is made from the family’s herd of Black Manchega Sheep, the breed that Manchego was originally made from. It is handmade, not waxed like most commercially produced Manchego, with sweet herbal notes. Manchego is Spain’s most famous cheese, and we believe this is the best of all of them.

 

ACCOMPANIMENTS 

 

Capella Cheese sea salt Crackers 

Great cheese deserves a great cracker. Made with Portuguese sea salt, hand harvested on the Atlantic coast. This is a delicious all purpose cracker, great with cheese and specialty products or just straight out of the bag.

Quince paste 

A classic addition to any cheese board, DaMorgada Quince paste is made according to ancient recipes. Honey was used initially and only later in the 1800s, was replaced by sugar cane, by the nuns at the Odivelas monastery. The sugar cane was bought by Portuguese from archipelago of Madeira and Brazil through the route of sugar.

 

Pitted Greek Olive Mix

This mix offers a variety of flavors, with six cultivars of Greek olives that are harvested at different stages of ripening and marinated in a blend of red wine vinegar, spices, and sea salt to create this fruity, Pitted Greek Olive Mix. 

 

Dried Apple Crisp 

Dried apples are a great addition to your holiday cheese board. They don't require extra cutting and are a nice texture and flavor compliment to creamy cheeses. Also, they are a great cracker substitute for gluten free folks. 

 

Mercona Almonds 

Imported from Spain, their satisfying crunch and rich, sweet flavor make them a good part of your holiday cheese board. Their bright color makes them a nice visual addition to your board’s look as well.

 

Final note: How much cheese to buy:

We usually recommend one ounce per person, per cheese, but for Thanksgiving since there are usually such an abundance of foods, you could reduce that to a half ounce per person per cheese. So for 16 people that would be a half pound of each cheese.