How to Pair Cheese and Fruit | The Cheese Professor

Carr Valley Creama Kasa with strawberries and chocolate photo courtesy Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin

Close your eyes and picture a cheese board. It likely includes a fruit element like apple slices, clusters of grapes, a jar of cherry jam, or dried apricots. Fruit and cheese are classic companions—not only can fruit add visual appeal to a cheese board, thoughtful pairings can enhance the flavor of the cheese itself.

Why Pair Fruit & Cheese?

That’s because most fruits are acidic. “Acidity works a lot like salt does to amplify flavors,” says Molly Browne, dean of mongers at Cheese State University and education director at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. “It also works as a great palate cleanser. Cheese is a very fat-driven food, and so your mouth tends to get coated in the cheese itself [...] I always talk about grapes as palate cleansers—there's a reason they're commonly paired with cheese. It's because they're perfectly packaged little acid bombs that can clean up your palate and help keep your taste receptors lively to continue tasting cheese.”

Kyra James photo credit Spilled Milk Creative

“Fruit is a go-to cheese and charcuterie board option for a reason: bringing freshness and brightness to a rich food group while never being overpowering,” says Kyra James, food educator, Certified Cheese Professional, and owner of Own Your Funk.

Tenaya Darlington, Cheese Professor contributor and author of Madame Fromage’s Adventures in Cheese, notes that snappier fruits like apples and Asian pears can cut the richness of a young cow’s milk cheese like brie, and the high fat content of sheep’s milk cheeses enables them to stand up to astringent, tannic fruits like persimmons. Read more about Tenaya Darlington.

How to Pair Fruit & Cheese

Layer similar flavors
Explore tartness
Look for contrast in flavor and texture
Take a regional approach
Try heirloom varieties

Layer similar flavors

Browne recommends layering similar flavors when pairing cheese with fruit. “It's very possible in certain styles of cheese to get really fruity notes—fruity esters are a family of aroma compounds that drive flavor in many cheeses,” she says. “[For example,] aged Parmesan styles tend to pick up tropical fruit notes [...] Pair something like that with tropical fruit jam or with a piece of dried pineapple or mango. That will really enhance the amount of those aromas available to your olfactory system, which allows you to detect them at a lower threshold and will really tease those notes out of the cheese.”

Explore tartness

Darlington points to tartness as another flavor affinity to explore. “Tart things really like tart pairings,” she says. “Pair a [fresh] goat cheese with candied citrus peel or lemon curd, or a tart fresh fruit—raspberries and blackberries are classic pairings for chevre.”

Jessica Sennett photo courtesy Jessica Sennett

Look for contrast in flavor and texture

Jessica Sennett, founder of Cheese Grotto, notes that another approach to fruit and cheese pairings is to play with contrasting flavors, like stone fruit with bloomy-rind and washed-rind cheeses. “I find that the richness and the buttery, more umami characteristics that you get from the bloomy rinds and the softer, fudgy washed rinds are really lovely with stone fruit,” she says. “Peaches and nectarines bring a brightness and a balance to some of these cheeses.”

In addition to flavor, texture is an important factor to consider when pairing fruit with cheese. Vanessa Tilaka, co-owner of Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery, likes to use contrasting textures for cheese and fruit pairings. “If you had a super hard cheese and a harder fruit, it might get lost,” she says. “But maybe a jam would be really nice, because there’s two different textures.” Read more about Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery.

“There's always this tension in creating a pairing, and fruit can really lend a lot of contrasting texture,” agrees Browne. “[With fruit] there can be a crunch involved. There can be a lovely mouthfeel that comes from jams and things like that.”

Take a regional approach

Vanessa Tilaka photo courtesy Vanessa Tilaka

The phrase “what grows together grows together” can be a useful tool when pairing cheese and fruit. “Anything that is from that same region should go together,” says Tilaka. “Quince and Manchego, because they’re from the same region, is a classic pairing.”

“If you like Camembert and you like Cheddar, those are two cheeses made in regions where there’s a lot of apple trees,” says Darlington. “In those cultures, you have apples with those cheeses.”

Try heirloom varieties

Tapping into rarer varieties of commonplace fruits, like heirloom apples, can lend additional dimension to a pairing. “You have all these different varieties of apples and flavor profiles—some are tart, some are more sweet, some are floral, some are more crisp, some are softer in the texture,” says Sennett. “All those things can lend themselves well to different styles of cheese, anything from an Alpine-style to a Cheddar [...] Think about the variations in the different fruits and how that matches the flavor profile of the cheeses that you’re pairing. ”

Consider the format

Once you’ve chosen a fruit for a pairing, the next step is to consider the format—fresh, dried, or a cooked, sweetened preserve.

“Fresh fruit tends to carry pretty robust flavors with it, and there's also the sensory impact of the juices,” says Browne. “When you take some of that away, you get more concentrated flavors and textures that are a little bit easier to pair with cheeses.”

Sennett notes that some cheeses pair more easily with dried fruit or preserves than fresh fruit. For example, a strongly-flavored, aged cheese might overwhelm the more delicate flavors of a fresh fruit. “But if you cook it down and have it as a conserve or compote—especially with something like a blue—then the fruit flavor can really come through,” she says. “When you have dried fruit, it’s going to have a much more condensed flavor to it.”

“Moisture isn't always a desired pairing characteristic, so removing it through drying can make the fruit more appealing in some cases,” says James. “Think [about] dried apricots versus fresh. The fresh stone fruit’s delicate flavor is unable to match complex cheese flavors, [but] dried apricots are incredible with these.”

Tenaya Darlington photo courtesy Tenaya Darlington

“If fruit isn’t in season, definitely pull out the dried fruits,” says Darlington. “I tend to keep fresh fruit in season with some of my lighter, softer, less-aged cheeses. Then as I move into winter, I get into stronger, harder, more flavorful cheeses and start pulling out those jars of apricots, dates, and figs.” She notes that the concentrated sweetness of dried fruit pairs especially well with the concentrated saltiness of aged Parmesan, Pecorino, and Gouda cheeses.

Whether you’re sticking to a tried-and-true pairing or branching out to something more experimental, all of the experts we spoke with emphasized the importance of trusting your own palate when it comes to fruit and cheese pairings. “There’s no wrong way to do it,” says Tilaka. “If it works for you and it doesn’t work for somebody else, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, because everyone’s palate is different.”

“Fruit and cheese work because there’s endless ways to pair,” says James. “Make your own rules and eat what you like!”

8 Great Fruit & Cheese Pairings

Pineapple with Parmigiano Reggiano

One of Darlington’s favorite pairings is Parmigiano Reggiano with dried or fresh pineapple. “It can be really nice for dessert,” she says. Curious about why Parmigiano Reggiano tastes like pineapple? Some aroma compounds found in Parmigiano Reggiano are reminiscent of pineapple which is why pineapple often shows up in tasting notes. Read more about Parmigiano Reggiano.

Apples with Cheddar

“Apples are a very classic pairing with Cheddar,” says Browne. “We here in Wisconsin like to even put a little slice of cheddar cheese on our apple pies!”

Grapes with Gouda

Although grapes often serve as a general-purpose palate cleanser, Tilaka likes them as a pairing with Gouda.

Dried mango with gorgonzola dolce

Darlington recommends pairing Gorgonzola Dolce, a soft, creamy blue cheese, with the contrasting texture of dried mangos.

Baked pears or apples with Stilton

“People might not think of baking pears and apples in the fall and then serving it with a really nice, soft, room-temperature Stilton,” says Darlington. “It’s a warm, luscious pairing.”

Cranberries with Camembert style

“Cranberries are a fun fall fruit to pair with,” says Browne. She recommends serving a bloomy rind cheese like Hoard’s St. Saviour with a cranberry jam or chutney.

Strawberries or raspberries with Brie

James explains that bloomy rind cheeses like brie pair well with strawberries and raspberries. “The slight earthy mushroom rind enjoys the slight acidity and balanced sweetness,” she says.

Chevre and prunes

Cheese Professor editor Amy Sherman recommends soft fresh goat cheese such as Laura Chenel or a smoky version like Goat Lady Smoked Chevre and prunes. “The lemony tart flavor of goat cheese perfectly complements the concentrated richness and sweetness of prunes.”