When you want to make the best holiday gift basket ever, try adding cheese. Imagine the sparkle in the gift receiver's eyes when they reach inside the basket and pull out a handful of havarti. Or the joy on their face when they're holding a pound of provolone. Or the shriek of surprise when they realize they're staring at a great gruyère. When you fill a holiday gift basket with cheese, you can be sure you're spreading maximum levels of cheer.
In Wisconsin, we know there's no better gift for the holidays – or birthdays, anniversaries and yes, even weddings – than cheese. In addition to toys and tech and bling, every true Wisconsinite hopes for a chunk of cheddar, a bite of burrata, or a slice of swiss when they're unwrapping presents. After all, when you're home to the tastiest, highest-quality, most award-winning cheese on the planet, it's hard to imagine asking for anything else at holiday time.
Take a spin through our website to find great ideas for a holiday gift basket. You'll find all sorts of recipes for holiday meals and lots of links where you can order meat and cheese gifts. Or read on for some tips on creating a DIY holiday gift basket with Wisconsin Cheese.
A holiday gift basket filled with cheese is sure to be a hit in any household. When preparing a great gift basket, we like to add these items to our shopping list.
4 – 6 cheeses. Choosing a mix of hard, semi-firm, and semi-soft cheeses will create a nice mix of taste and texture. Our favorites include hard cheeses like parmesan and aged gouda, semi-firm cheeses like gruyère and extra sharp cheddar cheese, and semi-soft cheeses like havarti and fontina. If we are delivering our holiday gift basket in person, we may include soft or fresh cheeses like stracchino and burrata. And if the recipient is a true cheese lover, we'll include a blue cheese and even a stinky cheese like brick or Montague.
Cured meats. Whole-muscle cuts like prosciutto, bresaola, and coppa along with cured sausages like salami, chorizo, and soppressata pair really nicely with cheese.
Accents. A selection of crackers, candied pecans, dried fruits, olives, pickles, mustard, honey, and preserves will add a world of sweet and savory flavor to your holiday cheese basket.
Wine. A riesling or pinot noir are the perfect choice for a wine that can pair well with a variety of cheeses, meats, and flavor accents.
A great holiday gift basket typically includes a mix of hard, semi-firm, and semi-soft cheeses. Aged or semi-aged cheeses are the easiest cheeses to include in a holiday gift basket as they don't require as much refrigeration.
Smoked cheese, herbed cheese, and flavored cheese are all great additions to a holiday gift basket.
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A holiday gift basket with Wisconsin Cheese has all the hallmarks of the perfect gift: everyone will love it, no one can get enough of it, and it doesn't get better than Wisconsin Cheese.
See, Wisconsin cheesemakers have been obsessively making the finest cheese in the world for 180 years. They've gotten really good at it – which is why they consistently win more awards than any other state or country in the world. And it seems the world can't get enough Wisconsin Cheese – we make one-quarter of all the cheese sold in America, and nearly half of all the artisan cheese.
So, as you're creating your holiday gift baskets – or purchasing artisan cheese gifts or ordering gourmet cheese delivery – just make sure you're loading your cart up with cheese from Wisconsin. That's when you know you'll be giving the perfect gift.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
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