Say cheese: A guide to building the perfect cheese platter

When it comes to the food industry, cheese is an industry all its own. From fancy parties to midnight snacks, people are selective about their cheeses. Its texture, its volume and especially its flavor, therefore, are weighed heavily by cheese connoisseurs.

Schnucks in Cape Girardeau is especially conscientious about cheese.

Employee Laura Poole, who describes herself as "more of a work in progress" than a "cheese specialist," says cheese is "growing by leaps and bounds." In fact, Schnucks recently promoted Gary Fornkahl, an 18-year employee of the store, to cheese department manager. Fornkahl, who has a degree in dietetics, is a wealth of cheese information.

Sharing the crowd-pleasers, he says, "A lot of people are interested in all types of cheese. There's a huge variety," but he expresses high praise for a cheese that originated in France: "I will engage with people who are into brie," he says. Bries are not only tasty, but because they are creamy, they also are physically appealing.

France is just one of the countries represented in Schnucks' cheese department. Fornkahl says they have cheese from about 20 different countries, including the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

Fornkahl says cheddar is also a popular cheese, and there is a plethora of cheddar cheeses from which to choose.

If brie and cheddar are among the favorites, blue cheese is one that is not as appealing to some, Fornkahl says. Its strong odor can be a turnoff.

Knowing how much cheese people need to accommodate a guest list is also a vital part of the cheese business. But it's not as simple as it may seem -- it's not just about numbers. Poole says it depends on whether the cheese will be an appetizer, used in a dish for cooking or paired with meat. She adds that if the cheese is lighter in taste, party planners will likely require more of it. If the flavor is heavy, they may opt for less.

Selecting cheese also comes down to the affair. For an informal party platter, people opt for a cheddar, Parmesan and Swiss variety.

But fancy events require deeper consideration. Certain wines and cheeses pair well, so people rely on cheese experts for guidance.

"Cheese brings out certain flavors in wine. ... Some will pair better than others," Fornkahl says.

Brie is a soft cheese -- fancy and rich -- and pairs well with merlot and Champagne. Cheddars go well with cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, Fornkahl shares.

Whereas Schnucks is very much invested in all things cheese and is expanding in that area, Stonie's Sausage Shop in Perryville, Missouri, prefers to focus more on its own specialty, but also recognizes the growing industry that cheese is, and provides an assortment of cheeses to its customers.

Stonie's creates platters of cheese, says Tyson Wibbenmeyer, company vice president, who also functions as production manager of their meat products.

"I am not some kind of expert on cheese," he says, but adds they do sell it along with sausages, spreads and other items. He identifies the crowd-pleasers as brick, marble and garden vegetable cheeses.

"Our background is production processing of meat products," Wibbenmeyer states: bacon, hams, summer sausages and 30 varieties of fresh brats, for example. Therefore, they create combinations of meat and cheese platters, which often include smoked or mild cheddar with their summer sausage. They "pair well together," he says.

Cheese clearly has a special place in culinary arts -- whether on a large scale as Schnucks sees or a smaller scale as Stonie's sees, where it complements its sausage specialty. Long gone are the days when people just rolled up any piece of cheese and threw it on a cracker. People are looking for expert advice on cheeses to help coordinate their menus, please their palates and enhance their events.