Holiday Gatherings: Japanese Influenced Cheese Plate

Don't forget to serve a nice cheese plate with wine for your holiday gatherings. I usually prepare 3 varieties of cheese, a blue cheese, a brie variety, and a harder variety. We should always pair some sweet fruits and jam with the cheese too. My cheese plate shown here blends some typical Japanese fruits such as Asian pear and Kaki (persimmon). The kaki fruit (persimmon) can be very sweet like a candy and Asian pear is sweet, crisp, and very juicy. Asian pear is best served before it gets too ripe, so don’t leave them for too long on the counter like regular pear. You can store them in the fridge.

Sometimes I even like to use Japanese rice crackers with the cheese plate. Brown rice crackers match best but any light salted type should be fine. Avoid the thick or soy sauce flavored ones.

There is one more Japanese item on this cheese plate. It is bamboo leaves! Lay the cheese and fruits directly onto the bamboo leaves. It adds a bit on Japanese styling and keeps the cheese from sticking to your plate or cutting board. This becomes a unique and interesting blend of Western and Japanese cultures for the holidays!

I included my favorite homemade fig jam. You can see the recipe here; Fig Jam for your Cheese Plate