2 Innovative Ways to Incorporate Cheese into A Wedding Celebration
Cypress Grove Cheese Cake
If you’re looking for an elegant, original, and yes, on-theme element to add to your wedding shower or reception, look no further than cheese. Cheese plates, charcuterie boards, and grazing tables are always welcome additions to festive occasions, but here we offer two approaches to incorporating cheese into your wedding celebration that is specially tailored to the occasion.
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Wedding Themed Cheese Plates
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” may be a superstitious way for a bride to ward off the evil eye on her wedding day, but it also happens to be an excellent formula for selecting a quartet of cheeses. The rhyme is believed to have originated in Lancashire, England. Since Lancashire is also known for its crumbly, distinctive, cow’s milk cheese, there’s no doubt there was dairy on the mind of whoever penned it.
Whether you organize a cheese-plate making activity for a bridal shower, or offer a cheese course at the reception itself, consider the following cheeses to fit the wedding-appropriate categories:
Something Old
Most firm or semi-firm cheeses have spent at least 2 months in affinage, but to really hit the distinction of “something old,” look to cheeses with at least 9 months of aging that have become deeper in color or flavor or take on crystalline textures. Depending on the palates and personalities of the couple, you could choose to amplify sweeter notes, such as with Stompetoren Grand Cru, or saltier notes with an Asiago D’Allevo Stravecchio. (Bonus: “stravecchio” literally means “very old.”) Or honor the rhyme by giving a nod to its homeland with a classic, aged English cheddar such as Montgomery’s or Keen’s.
Something New
Contrast the textures and flavors of your “something old” selection with a tart or creamy, fresh or young cheese. The newest of new cheeses include ricotta, mozzarella, or chèvre, which see no aging at all, but just about any bloomy rind wheel of your liking is basically a newborn, comparatively. Consider a cheese with romantic, honeymoon vibes: Délice de Bourgogne, Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog, or La Tur. (Rhymes with l’amour.)
Something Borrowed
This requires the most conceptualization—how does one “borrow” cheese, exactly? Consider that many excellent domestic cheeses are made in the fashion of their European ancestors. They are, in a sense, formulas and methods that are borrowed. A few excellent examples to choose between: Upland Farm’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve is an homage to French Beaufort, Jasper Hill’s Alpha Tolman is modelled from Swiss Appenzeller, and Mystic Cheese Co.’s Cachalot is designed after none other than the aforementioned crumbly Lancashire.
Something Blue
This needs little explanation as far as cheeses go, but for mixed company as wedding parties tend to be, best to stay on the friendly side of blue. (Unless your entire wedding party loves strong cheeses, in which case, I’d really like to meet them.) Well-behaved blue cheeses with appreciable sweetness and not too much bite that won’t crash the wedding include Gorgonzola Dolce, Cambozola Triple Crème, and Roth Buttermilk Blue.
Cheese That Takes the Cake
Tiers of bright white decadence stacked upon one another, garnished with fruits and flowers...of course I’m talking about the wedding cake. But the same effect could also be accomplished with cheese.
Wedding cheese “cakes” have become en vogue, so much so that certain retailers and creameries now offer the supplies for assembling them. (Wedding toppers not included.) The Celebration Cheese Cake from Cypress Grove is a three-tier offering: a middle layer of Truffle Tremor sandwiched between large and small tiers of Humboldt Fog. In a soft, bloomy rind “cake” such as this, it’s possible to let your guests serve themselves from the tower.
You could also stack whole cheese wheels of your choosing—with firmer cheeses on the bottom—to merely serve as a wedding-themed showpiece for a grazing cheese board, or to be plated onto individual cheese plates by the catering staff. (In which case making sure to have extra supplies on hand of the smaller wheels to go around.)
Who needs frosting anyway? To add flair to your wedding-themed cheese offering—whether it be in plate or cake form—include accompaniments that emphasize romance or fertility, such as chocolate, edible flowers, pomegranate, and figs, or simply color coordinate with the bridesmaid’s dresses. It’s a sophisticated gourmet choice, in place or in addition to a traditional wedding cake.