Must haves on your festive cheese board?

[Liveinthepresent]

I am a massive cheese lover - French, stinking, oozing sorts especially - but after 2 pregnancies am a bit out of the habit.
Really looking forward to a Boxing Day cheese board - but am catering for PIL who prefer mild, hard traditional cheese so am looking for a mix of crowd pleasers..
What do you have?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Gruyere or tomme
Brie
Red fox
Snowdonia black bomber
Lincolnshire poacher
Stilton

[ChristmasJumperWearer]

Wensleydale and Cranberry pleases both the hard-cheese lovers (my parents are the same) and the oozy-cheese brigade.

Plus the cranberries are festive.

[ChristmasJumperWearer]

Cornish Yarg.

[bamboostalks]

Manchego with chilli jam or quince jam is lovely and not too strong. It's nutty flavour is so delish.

[usualsuspect]

Stilton.
Strong cheddar.

[FinallyGotAnIPhone]

Ooh good thread yes I was pregnant for a couple of Christmases too. Pont l'eveque is a fave if mine. Yum!

[LittleMissGreen]

Wensleydale and Cranberry
White stilton and ginger
smoked applewood
mexicana
strong but creamy cheddar
brie
jarlsberg

(If I had a stilton/blue cheese lover it would NOT be on the cheese board but it's own plate, bleugh!)

[LineRunner]

There's a lovely Isle of Man smoked cheese, which they used to sell in my Asda but bizarrely haven't restocked even though it sold out so quickly.

Gorgonzola.
Lancashire crumbly.

[ZoeZoeZoe]

Anything from Hawes, Wensleydale!

www.wensleydale.co.uk/2-cheese-and-other-goodies

The one with cranberries is quite seasonal, the one with ginger is one of my favourites!

[HorsePetal]

And some quince jelly. Membrillo?

Oh and some Spanish Manchego

[Minnieisthedevilmouse]

Stinking bishop

English sheep and it's beyond dreams it's so gooey stinky and lip smackingly marvellous.

[ZingChoirsOfAngels]

Tesco Finest Ossau Iraty, hopefully.

I need to find out if it's safe in pregnancy (any of you know?)

I love it and I definitely can't eat Brie or Camambert or Petit Vacheron!

[CMOTDibbler]

DS and I did some intensive cheese testing today, and found an amazing elderflower cheddar and an isle of mull cheddar that are both candidates. Wensleydale was already on the list plus shropshire blue, and we'll spend some more cheese counter time next weekend to choose some others

[jojane]

Y fenni, it's a welsh cheese with mustard seeds in and is yummy, we also always have cranberry cheese, blue cheese and Brie as well as Edam and cheddar for the kids,

[ToucheAwayyyyyy]

Tintern - a luscious Welsh cheddar cheese with chives and shallots.

[LynetteScavo]

I love Wensleydale. If it has apricots or something in, all the better.

I have a proper cheese shop very near me. When it opened I thought "Who on earth is going to shop there?"

Last Christmas Eve I queued,for over half an hour just to get into the shop for my Christmas cheese.

This year, I will be pre-ordering - as they know their stuff, I will mostly let them chose for me. Cornish Yarg, and some weneslydale, something gooey and French....no Boursin though. I'm sure it was a law in the '80's you had to have Boursin on your cheese board, and now I think of it as traditional Christmas fodder.

I must have ! Bath Ovals with my chesse - if you haven't tried them - you must!

[neontetra]

I hope to serve Oxford Blue, a camembert, a strong cheddar, a cheddar flavoured with horseradish, wensleydale with canberries, a strange pink mexican spiced cheese I saw today in Sainsburys in their temptingly named "cheese with additives" range, and one of those sausages of smoked processed cheese for db. So much cheese!

[ElleBellyBeeblebrox]

Saint Agur
Boursin
Jarlsberg

[DoItTooBabyJesus]

Mmmmm!

There will be Brie, Wensleydale with cranberries, a seriously strong English cheddar, some manchego, maybe a smoked Bavarian and one impulse surprise no doubt!

[Banffy]

Extra strong mature cheddar
Stilton
Mexicana
Le roule
Brie
Smoked applewood cheddar

A jar of homemade Nigella's chilli jam

I'm going to have cheese and crackers for dinner tonight now

[Taffeta]

Stilton
Cambozola
Dolcelatte
Very strong cheddar
Manchego or Jarlsberg

Grapes, celery, walnuts, pickles, cranberry compote, pickled onions, thin slivers of red onion, cornichons and some very good crackers - Peters Yard crispbread and a nut one from Waitrose.

[TheOnlySevenSleighbells]

Ossau Iraty is fine in pregnancy, it's my favourite too.

[ThursdayLast]

Mmmm cheese.
Essentials are extra mature cheddar and a Brie.
This year (so far) I've got a port salut that is getting nice and stinky, a herby soft cheese and a little Wensleydale with cranberries.
Just need a strong blue and I'm done

[Follyfoot]

I'm with Zoe: Wensleydale cheese from Hawes is divine. So, plenty of their cheeses (their Kit Calvert is lovely), some Swaledale, Gorwydd Caerphilly and a local one - Dovedale Blue.

[BusyLittleSpider]

I love a nice melting Camembert with Pringles chopped veg to dip.

I am also very partial to blue cheese, particularly Roquefort. Nobody else in my family likes it so I get to eat it all to myself