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As a cheese lover, I’ll admit that shopping for us can be a pain. Unless you know exactly what someone likes—and exactly what’s already in their fridge—giving cheese itself can be tricky. Foods to pair with cheese and boards to serve cheese on can be just as hard because each cheese lover’s favorite accompaniments and tools can feel highly specific to their tastes, passions, and curiosities.
Having been in the cheese world for a decade, though, there are a few items (including, yes, cheese and serving boards) I’ve come across that make universally lovely and practical presents. Below, find eight cheese gifts that will delight the friend in the group whose entire personality is cheese boards.
Three Ancient Breed Parmigiano Reggiano Tasting Flight With Cheese Knife
If you’re going to give cheese, go with always-pleasing, forever-useful Parmigiano Reggiano. It’s a name-protected variety with uberstrict quality control. It’s lovely on a cheese board (a revelation if you’ve only tasted Parm knock-offs) but also great for cooking. Because Parmesan is a more aged cheese, it will basically never go bad in the fridge—even if a bit of mold grows on it, you can just scrape it off. This Ancient Breed tasting flight allows the recipient to taste three different Parmigiano Reggianos, each made within the strict name protection guidelines but with the milks of three different ancient cow breeds. Each is totally distinct, and fans of shows like Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat or Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy will be thrilled to get to taste a cheese they’ve seen on-screen.
Girl Meets Dirt Jam Club
Girl Meets Dirt’s mission is to preserve and share the fruit of Orcas Island, Washington. They believe that “the salty island breezes create their own kind of fruit alchemy” on Orcas Island—and are committed to sharing that alchemy by way of jams in flavors such as Tomato, Cherry Fig Leaf, and Island Plum. Their jam club has six- and 12-month subscription options. The latter includes three full-size jars of Girl Meets Dirt Preserves every two months (for a total of 18 jars over six deliveries); the six-month has three deliveries of three jars (nine jars total). The jams are made to evoke the flavor and beauty of their place of origin, which mirrors the ethos of all my favorite cheesemakers—and will probably go far with your favorite cheese lover too.
Marble Cheese Dome
Though I do think cheese board preferences are highly personal, a marble board with a glass dome is a timeless, universally appropriate display option that will stun in any kitchen. In France these domes (called cloches) are often used to display cheese as it’s coming to room temperature, allowing it to breathe while protecting it from the elements. Wood is slightly more traditional as a base, but I love the marble’s clean aesthetic—and slightly easier upkeep.
Boska Ultimate Cheese Board
I am generally not a fan of the “cheese board plus hidden knives” thing, which is almost always a way to sell you a bunch of subpar products under the guise of convenient modular design.
I’ve only found one all-in-one cheese board that’s actually worth it, and it’s this one by Boska, known within the cheese industry as the gold standard for cheese tools. The set comes with a sturdy European oak board and 10 stainless steel cheese knives designed to cleanly cut each of the different cheese styles. It’s a pricier set, but with proper care it should last decades.
Boska Copper and Concrete Raclette Melter
If you’re shopping for a lover of warm, gooey cheese, this raclette melter allows you to become the patron saint of their future cheese parties. This retro-inspired machine is designed to hold a quarter wheel of raclette, while a heat source suspended above gently melts the top layer. Scrape that melty layer of cheese onto an awaiting plate (ideally one loaded with bread/potatoes/cornichons) and repeat the process as the cheese continues to melt.
Sure, this is a pricey machine, designed for one singular purpose. But it also holds the the promise of countless raclette nights on chilly winter nights—and it looks great on a kitchen counter between uses. For the committed raclette fan, it’s an unbeatable gift.
Cheese Sex Death: A Bible for the Cheese Obsessed
For your cheese-loving friends who are eager to learn more, you can’t do better than Cheese Sex Death: A Bible for the Cheese Obsessed. The book is divided into an Old Testament, covering the history and taxonomy of cheese, and a New Testament, covering how to buy, serve, store, cook with, and pair cheese. It’s a striking book, full of author Erika Kubick’s beautiful photography and stain-glass-inspired cheese illustrations. You’ll get benchmark cheese information, written in a way that’s engaging enough you'll want to devour it from cover to cover.
Formaticum Cheese Storage Bags
The tricky thing about storing cheese is that it needs to be able to breathe without drying out. Plastic wrap suffocates cheese and can give it a plasticky flavor. Wax paper and butcher paper can work, but cheese shops use a professional-grade micro-perforated wax paper. These reusable formaticum bags are made of the same material. (You can buy the paper too, but assuming you don’t want to learn the various monger paper folding techniques, I’d recommend the bags.) This isn’t the flashiest gift, but giving the gift of a proper way to store and preserve their delicious cheese is the most thoughtful, practical gift any cheese lover could hope for.
Cody Foster Vintage-Inspired Cheese Ornaments
If the cheese lover you’re shopping for could use a touch of seasonal whimsy, go for these cheese ornaments by Cody Foster. The set includes a wheel of Parmigiano, a piece of blue cheese, and an old Italian deli-style mozzarella loaf—and the level of detail in each is extremely adorable. (P.S. check out some other food ornament ideas.)
