THE NIBBLE™ Guide to Cheese Condiments

• Aged Balsamics
• Chutney
• Condiment Bars
• Extra Virgin Olive
  Oil

• Fruits & Nuts
• Honey
• Melassa dei Fichi
• Membrillo
• Mostarda

• Mustards
• Savory Jams
• Sweet Jams
• Yeast Spreads

Aged Balsamics

Authentic balsamics are from Modena, Italy and are authenticated by the consortium.

Some of the finest are hundreds of dollars for just a few ounces and are doled out with an eyedropper.

Read more in our article about balsamic vinegar.

Real aged balsamic comes from a similar aging process to wines, and is nearly as drinkable. High-end varieties are aged for over 12 years. The finest are aged for 25 years or more (the greats are 40 years old or older). The higher the quality, the thicker, sweeter and more palatable it will be. Drizzle over thin slices of cheese so as not to let either flavor become overpowering.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of fake balsamic out there: plain wine vinegar colored brown with caramel and flavored with sugar. Be sure you buy from a reliable purveyor.

Hard, aged cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino Romano and aged Goudas.

Chutneys

Keep an eye out for fruit-based chutneys when pairing with cheese.

A mixture of fruit and spices, chutneys can have a texture that varies from a ketchup to a salsa. (There are savory chutneys as well, some fruit-based, but they are meant for meats and don’t work with cheeses.)

While many condiments that call themselves chutneys are closer to one-dimensional jams, a real chutney will set itself apart with its distinctive flavors.

Pair with creamy young cheeses, Fontina or mild Swiss cheeses (try a Hoch Ybrig by Rolf Beeler—worth seeking out).

Tomato chutney pairs well with sharp cheddars.

Condiment Bars

ForeverCheese.com imports some interesting pressed bars from Spain in flavors like chocolate, orange and date.

These bars, about the size of an energy bar, are dried fruit bars meant to be sliced and eaten with cheese. They can be made up of any combination of oranges, almonds, dates, plums, pumpkin or cocoa. The ingredients are pressed into bar form.

Each bar pairs differently with different cheeses, but since most are on the sweet side, they go well with tangy young goat cheeses or salty aged cheeses.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

We have too many favorites to list. Italian, Spanish and Greek olive oils tend to be on everyone’s list of preferred olive oils, but don’t neglect the grassy Australian Picual or some of the fruity California varieties.

The oil that is extracted from tree-ripened olives. Extra virgin olive oil comes from the first pressing of the olive fruit (subsequent pressing produce a lighter and less flavorful oil.)

Fresh Cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta and goat cheese act like a canvas for the complexities of a good olive oil.

Fruits & Nuts

Dried and fresh fruits, and plain or toasted nuts, are the cheese “condiments” most people have grown up with.

Honey

Look for infused varieties like the anise, chili and lavender honeys from Palette Fine Foods. Tea Together sells Italian infused honeys in flavors like orange, pear, truffle and eucalyptus.

A thick sweet syrup produced by bees and extracted from their hives, honey is excellent on a variety of cheeses.

Strong blue cheeses like Cabrales, Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Stilton; fresh goat cheeses.

Melassa dei Fichi

Italy’s Cilento National Park produces prized figs that are often used in this condiment.

A compote made up of dried white Cilento figs.

Membrillo/Quince Paste

Sold at cheese counters. Some is pre-packaged. Others are in loaves, and cheese mongers will slice you off as much or as little as you like.

Membrillo, traditionally a Spanish cheese accompaniment, is made from a small yellow fruit called a quince. Quince, a relative of the apple and the pear, is high in pectin, and the resulting paste has the consistency of a thick jelly. It has a sweet and tart taste and looks like a brick of gelatin.

Any salty or blue cheese will pair well with it, but works best with Spanish cheeses like Roncal, Mahón or Manchego.

Mostardas

There are dozens of different flavors. Check out the selection at Formaggio Kitchen to understand just how many kinds of mostardas there actually are.

A condiment made of cooked fruits that are marinated in a spicy, mustard-flavored syrup. They can be sweet or savory and contain anything from pears, apricots, figs and cherries to balsamic, sultanas and onions. Originally from Italy, mostardas get their name from the essential mustard oil and their origins as cooked-down grape must (the unfermented juice expressed from grapes).

Soft Italian Cheeses, like Taleggio, Fontina or Robiola di Lombardia; or tangy cheeses like goat cheese.

Mustards

Look for French and English mustards. Both offer a good degree of heat while maintaining a level of complexity that will compliment the cheese.

Prepared mustard comes from the seeds of the mustard plant, which are ground into a powder and then combined with wet ingredients and spices. Prepared mustard gets some of its flavor and consistency from vinegar, white wine, turmeric and sugar. Many mustards contain other ingredients like horseradish, honey, whole mustard seeds or fruit. These flavored mustards are also delicious with cheese.

English and Scottish mustards pair well with strong cheddars like Gloucester.

Pair the slightly more delicate French mustards with the savory Port Salut or the grassy Le Berger Basque.

Savory Jams and Jellies

Aloha from Oregon and Stonewall Kitchen have a wide range of jellies featuring savory ingredients.

Similar in texture and sweetness to fruit jellies, savory jellies usually add peppers, garlic or herbs to a fruit or sugar and pectin mixture.

Mild Swiss, young Gouda, Jarlsberg, Camembert

Sweet Jellies, Jams, Marmalades, Fruit Butters and Conserves

Look for handmade varieties at your local farmers market or specialty store. The flavors are nearly limitless, from strawberry, grape, raspberry and apricot to more exotic jams like guava, papaya, and dragon fruit.

Palette Fine Foods has a wonderful line of savory and sweet condiments dedicated to cheese, including Purple Basil Jelly, Red Currant Jelly, Peppered Black Mission Fig Preserve, Sour Cherry with Lemon Balm Preserve, and Spiced Quince Preserve.

While all are made from fruit, their varying compositions and added ingredients define the difference between these condiments:

• A jelly is made from a mixture of fruit juice, sugar and pectin which is cooked down until it achieves a thick consistency that holds its own shape.
• A jam contains sugar and whole pieces of fruit that are cooked down until they lose their form.
• A preserve is nearly the same as jam except the pieces of fruit are left in chunks.
• A marmalade is a preserve with citrus rinds.
• A conserve is a jam with nuts.
• A fruit butter is a mixture of fruit, sugar and spices that is cooked and mixed until completely smooth.

Dry, salty cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano or aged Gouda.

Citrus marmalades pair well with stinky washed rind cheeses like Epoisses or Livarot.

The sweetness of these condiments matches nicely with blue cheeses.

Vegemite, Marmite, Promite and Other Yeast Spreads

In the U.S., you may have to go to a specialty store that carries grocery items from the U.K. or Australia to procure these spreads, but in many parts of the world they are more common that ketchup.

Marmite is dark brown-colored savory spread made from the yeast that is a by-product of the brewing industry. It has a very strong, slightly salty flavor and may require repeated tasting to appreciate its strong flavor.

Cheddars from Northern England like Trotters Lancashire.