Cheese is the perfect food to bring to Thanksgiving. Here are a cheese expert’s top Midwestern picks.

Jared Kaufman, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

Feeling stuck on what to bring to your Thanksgiving gathering? Or want to blow away your friends and family without having to turn on your oven?

Come with me to the cheese counter.

Autumn is a great season for cheese in the Midwest, so a good cheese or charcuterie board is easily within reach for Thanksgiving. As someone who worked as a cheesemonger for several years and placed highly in national cheese competitions, I look for Thanksgiving cheeses that look and feel seasonal and that go well with autumnal fruits and spreads. Thankfully, plenty of cheeses naturally lend themselves to these admittedly broad criteria, so you’re in good shape.

Right off the bat, in my house, no Thanksgiving is complete without Rush Creek Reserve. It’s simply non-negotiable. The seasonal cows’ milk cheese from Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville, Wisc., is made only in the fall, so it’s impossibly rich and creamy and meaty. The small wheel is wrapped in a strip of spruce bark, which even further amps up its woodsy notes.

What you’ll want to do is this: Using a paring knife, carefully cut off the top rind, right above the bark, and peel it back like a can of sardines. Gather around with the people you love. Go at the gooey goodness with spoons, or, if you must, slices of fresh baguette. I mean it.

Here’s what else to keep an eye out for as you’re putting together a Thanksgiving cheese board.

For starters, soften up

To me, creamy and spreadable washed-rind cheeses feel particularly autumnal, and not just because they look the part with their gorgeous orange and pink exteriors. You might know this category for its infamous stinkers like taleggio and Époisses, but I encourage you to seek out their more crowd-pleasing cousins, which tend to have savory, yeasty, faintly sweet qualities like fresh bread. A perfect precursor to stuffings and hotdishes.

And as for what to serve these guys with: Honey! Support our Minnesota beekeepers. Consider a seasonal cracker or bread, too, like ones made with local fruits or grains.

Specific picks: Plenty of classic European options to choose from, but let’s highlight some Midwest cheeses. Afterglow, a Wisconsin goat’s milk cheese washed in New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red, which is brewed with Door County cherries. Mild, fruity, tangy. Or, North Fork Whiskey Washed Munster, made by Redhead Creamery in Brooten, Minn. Custardy, savory, and undeniably whiskey-ey. (If washed-rind cheeses aren’t your thing, find Apricity, a fluffy, lemon-bread-y new development from the folks at Alemar Cheese Company in the Food Building in Northeast Minneapolis.)

Don’t be sheepish, get sheep’s milk

Look outside the realm of cows’ milk cheeses! Sheep’s milk cheeses tend to have a gorgeous richness and earthiness that stands up particularly well to bold red wines and dark liquors and cocktails, if those are your Thanksgiving go-to drinks. (For the goat cheese-averse, hear me out: Sheep’s milk almost never gets the bitterness or sharpness that some goats’ milk cheeses have.)

Specific picks: Ossau-Iraty, a traditional Basque cheese, or Verano or Invierno, two Vermont cheeses inspired by it. Or for something local, find Sogn Tomme, made by the folks at Shepherd’s Way Farms down in Nerstrand, Minn. It’s lemony, hearty, and also quite pretty.

Find a more traditional cheddar

This time around, skip the block cheddar and go for a more traditional British-style cheese. Broadly speaking, they’re less sweet, slightly crumbly in texture, and have more of an acidic backbone that can help cut through the richness of the feast you’re about to have. And for serving, think spiced apple butter, pumpkin butter, and slices of a crisp apple or pear.

Specific picks: Beloved names in British cheddar include Westcombe, Pitchfork, and Montgomery, or find the American Cabot Clothbound. If you want to stay Midwestern with a twist, Dunbarton Blue is a slightly unusual cheddar from Wisconsin with mild blue veining that doesn’t overpower, the way some people find classic blue cheeses do.

If you’re on dessert duty…

Put together a show-stopping after-dinner cheese board. This is Gouda’s time to shine, folks. Find something aged for a good while, between 15 to 24 months, so it has developed a crunchy, crystalline texture. Pair it with a mild soft cheese, plus some nosh-sized sweets, fresh fruit, and maybe even caramel sauce.

Specific picks: My go-to fall goudas are Brabander Reserve, Coolea, and Wilde Weide. Complex without being too sweet. For a soft cheese, ask your cheesemonger for a triple-creme brie such as St. Stephen or Brillat-Savarin, or for a slightly different local idea, find Little Lucy, a mild and bright number made by Redhead Creamery.

Cheese shops

Higher-end grocery stores like Lunds & Byerly’s and Kowalski’s carry some of these cheeses. Certain specialty cheeses may only be available at larger, cheese-specific stores like France 44 or Surdyk’s.

St. Paul Cheese Shop: 1573 Grand Ave; 651-698-3391; stpaulcheeseshop.com

Mississippi Market Co-Op: 1500 W. 7th St., 651-690-0507; 622 Selby Ave., 651-310-9499; and 740 E. 7th St., 651-495-5602; msmarket.coop

France 44: 4351 France Ave S, Minneapolis; 612-278-4422; france44.com

Surdyk’s: 303 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-379-9757; surdyks.com

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