Any day is a good day to celebrate and enjoy a Manchego cheese board.

That’s why today we’re bringing you six different and original ways to present your Manchego cheese board and impress like true decoration experts.

The ideal way to start tasting a cheese board is to begin with the milder cheeses, such as young ones, and gradually increase the intensity of the cheese.

On this occasion, we’ve prepared a board with our Gómez Moreno semi-cured cheese, rosemary cheese, and Carpuela cured cheese aged for at least six months.

We decided to give it a tangy touch, so we added some mandarin wedges and a bit of lemon and ginger jam.

We also included fig bread, quince paste, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and a mix of brown flaxseed, hulled millet, and natural sesame seeds.

As you can see, we’re showing you different ways to decorate your table with the presentation of Manchego cheese peaks.

So, we’re going to detail each idea one by one for preparing Manchego cheese boards.

Cheese peaks presented like a hieroglyph

This is one of the simplest ways to arrange them — you just need to stand one wedge upright on one of its sides, then place another wedge lying down so that both tips meet.

Next, stand another wedge upright, then place another wedge lying down, but this time making its tip match the base of the previous wedge, and repeat as many times as you like. Manchego cheese in a hieroglyph shape.

 

Manchego cheese board in a zipper shape

For this arrangement, we’ve used two of our cheeses — our Carpuela Cured and our Gómez Moreno Semi-Cured. This way, we can play with the colors of the cheeses according to their degree of aging.

To arrange them, simply alternate the different cheeses by standing them upright on one of their sides and matching the tips with the bases of the ones opposite.

Rosemary Manchego cheese in a ladder shape

This time, we’ve used our Gómez Moreno Rosemary Cheese.

This one can be a bit trickier when it comes to cutting from the wedge, since we’ll be cutting thicker triangles — about the width of a finger to a finger and a half.

Next, we’ll cut that triangle into parallel diagonal strips, trying to keep them the same thickness. In the end, you’ll be left with a small triangle that can be used as decoration on the board.

For assembly, place the longer sticks parallel to each other. The medium-sized sticks will go perpendicular to the longer ones, with one side underneath and the opposite side on top.

Finally, place the smallest pieces in the middle, parallel to each other and perpendicular to the larger ones.

Cheese board in an hourglass shape

The easiest one to make. We’ll cut the triangles from the wedge in half and lay them flat on the board, one on top of the other, so that the tips match the bases.
It reminded us of an hourglass, so we decided to place a walnut to simulate the sand.

And you — does it also remind you of an hourglass?

Semi-cured cheese in the shape of penitents

Yes, we’ve called them penitents.

Maybe it’s because we were left wanting to enjoy Holy Week this year, but we can’t deny that their shape and arrangement make them look like it.

To recreate this, you can use different types of cheese as with the zipper style, or just one type. In our case, we used Gómez Moreno Semi-Cured.

You just need to cut the triangles from the wedge in half and stand them upright on their base.
If the triangles have trouble standing, you can trim the rind to make a line as straight as possible.

Peaks of cured Manchego cheese arranged in a fan shape

One of the most traditional ways to present a Manchego cheese board had to be included in ours.

You simply overlap one tip over another as many times as you like until you form a fan.
You can garnish it with some walnuts, raisins, or a drizzle of wildflower or rosemary honey on top.

Pairings for your Manchego cheese boards

To pair with this Manchego cheese board, you can enjoy full-bodied red wines with a scent and flavor of red fruits. We recommend a Cabernet, a local Tempranillo, or a Syrah.

You can also opt for dry or semi-dry white wines that are slightly fruity. These enhance the aromas and aging of the cheese on the palate. A Chardonnay or a Verdejo would work well.

Cava is another great discovery for pairing with Manchego cheese. Its bubbles cleanse the palate and make you enjoy every bite as if it were the first.

And if I don’t drink alcohol?

If you don’t drink alcohol, we suggest sparkling water with red fruits, lemon slices, and fresh mint leaves.

Decoration for cheese boards

We’ve shared how we decorated our Manchego cheese board, and now we’ll give you more ideas to accompany our cheese on yours.

You can enjoy the cheese with a bit of toasted bread and a good extra virgin olive oil.

Serrano ham, a faithful companion to Manchego cheese, couldn’t be left out of our recommendations.

You can also use dried fruit, prunes, rosemary honey, tomato jam, strawberry jam, or berry jam.

Where to buy cheeses for your Manchego cheese boards?

As you know, at Quesos Gómez Moreno and Carpuela we make artisanal Manchego sheep’s milk cheeses, and in our online cheese shop you can find all these products to prepare cheese boards for your celebrations.