Planning the spread for a New Year’s Eve party? Do your guests a favor and take your cheese tray to the next level.

Instead of bland orange cubes speared on toothpicks, serve a colorful assortment of artisan cheeses. Made in small batches from cow, sheep and goat milk, these cheeses come in shades of blue, green, brown, white, gray, red – and, of course, orange. They’re a lively group, with personalities ranging from mellow and well-mannered to rambunctious and opinionated.

Artisan cheeses have quite the buzz in the food world. Interest has zoomed as more Americans embrace the concept of eating fresh, eating local and eating food made by real people instead of faceless corporations. Top restaurants are serving cheese plates, and TV food programs spotlight cheeses and their makers.

As a result, consumption of specialty cheeses, a $6.4 billion industry in 2003, increased five times faster than overall cheese consumption from 1994 to 2004, according to the California Milk Advisory Board.

Serving artisan cheeses “tells your guests you’re interested in giving them something new. You want to wake up their mouths and give them something fun,” says Lynne Devereux, cheese educator for the California milk board.

What to serve?

The hardest thing about assembling a cheese tray is deciding which kinds to serve.

About 110 cheesemakers are producing specialty varieties in Wisconsin and California, the leading dairy states. Then there are the hundreds of varieties imported from Europe, where cheesemaking is a centuries-old tradition. Each has a distinct flavor that reflects the animals’ diet, the farm’s microclimate, age of the cheese and the cheesemaker’s skill.

But choose you must. Experts agree that offering more than three to five cheeses can be confusing.

“You don’t want to overwhelm the guests, but you do want to push their palate a little bit,” Devereux says.

The general rule of thumb is to serve cheeses that are diverse in origin, flavor, texture, intensity, color and age.

Ben Hathaway, cheese and charcuterie supervisor for Dean & Deluca gourmet grocer in Leawood, Kan., suggests beginning with a cheese that’s simple and mild. “Then throw in something that’s a little off the beaten path,” he says.

Ryan Sciara, managing partner at Cellar Rat in Kansas City, Mo., likes a soft Brie for starters. A semisoft cheese like Petite Basque from France, a hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and a blue cheese – “always a blue” – would round out the tray nicely, he says.

Guests should be encouraged to sample the mellower, younger cheeses first. Aged cheeses should be tasted last so their sharp, pungent flavors don’t overpower the palate.

In his book “The Cheese Plate” (Clarkson Potter), Max McCalman recommends placing the mildest cheese at the 6 o’clock position on the plate and proceeding clockwise with the more complex cheeses. “Then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with jumping around, experimenting, even going backward,” he writes.

Another option is to offer a “flight” of similar cheeses, says Ron Shalinsky, owner of the two Kansas City, Mo., area Better Cheddar stores. The tray might contain all blue cheeses, all Italian cheeses, all sheep’s milk cheeses. Or, guests could taste the differences between a youthful Cheddar and others that have been aged 6 years and 9 years.

When in doubt, ask for help. The people who work in specialty food stores love to talk about cheese and are there to help you put together a tasty, well-rounded tray.

Shalinsky often recommends Prince de Claverolle, a French sheep’s milk cheese with a nutty flavor; Piave, an Italian cow’s milk cheese with pineapple undertones; Cotswold, an English Cheddar with chives; and St. Agur, a French blue cheese that is buttery and mild. “Even people who think they don’t like blue may find they like this one,” he says.

How much cheese should you buy? It all depends on what time of day the party is and how much other food is being served. If it’s a cheese party, plan on 2 to 4 ounces of cheese total per person, Shalinsky says. If you’re serving a lot of other foods, 1 or 2 ounces per person should be enough.

Remember that artisan cheeses are so flavorful that it doesn’t take much to satisfy. And be warned that handcrafted cheese comes at a price – an average $16 a pound, compared with $4 a pound for grocery store Cheddar.

Sserving tips

To maximize guests’ enjoyment of the cheese tray:

Slice cheese while it’s still cold. But resist the urge to cut up everything. Large hunks of cheese are dramatic, even beautiful, and should be left intact to anchor the plate.

Bring cheese to room temperature before serving. This may take an hour or more. Keep it wrapped while it warms so it doesn’t dry out.

Cheeseheads are divided on whether to remove rinds before serving. According to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, rinds hint at the cheesemakers’ craftsmanship and add textural interest and deserve to stay. However, some rinds are inedible, and “it’s not going to be a good experience later on if you eat it,” Hathaway says. He advises cutting them off.

Eating the bitter rind on Brie is a matter of personal taste. Some people like it; some don’t. So leave on the rind, and if you see that guests are digging out the middle of the cheese, you can always cut it off midway through the party, Devereux says.

Serve cheeses on a wooden cutting board, marble or granite slab, ceramic platter, bamboo tray or other flat surface.

Use a separate knife or spreader for each cheese.

Make signs to help guests identify unfamiliar cheeses. Kitchen stores sell erasable ceramic markers for just this purpose; the budget alternative is to letter cardboard labels in your best handwriting.

The new book “Real Simple Celebrations” (Time Inc. Home Entertainment) takes a fun, casual approach. Paper name tags are stuck to toothpicks and labeled: “Hello My Name Is … Mountain Gorgonzola, and I’m earthy, sharp and soft.” Sidekicks

Cheese and crackers go together like … well, like cheese and crackers. But don’t get anything too wacky, Sciara says, or the crackers’ flavor may compete with the cheese. Neutral water crackers are always a safe bet. Biscotti, flatbread, crusty baguettes and pita chips are other options.

Don’t stop there. Dried fruits (dates, apricots, cherries) and nuts (toasted almonds, candied walnuts, hazelnuts) are classics. Fresh fruits, including ripe berries, pears and grapes, are divine. Olives and cured meats such as prosciutto also add variety to the cheese plate.

Cheeses play well with condiments, too. Sciara likes to put a honeycomb on the tray; it’s terrific spread on blue cheeses, he says. Fig paste and mostarda, a cooked-down citrus rind with mustard seeds, are other Sciara faves. Shalinsky likes to drizzle high-quality olive oil or aged balsamic vinegar over harder cheeses such as Parmesan and Piave.

Devereux suggests getting the party started by making up a little plate of samples, maybe an aged Cheddar on a cracker with a dollop of chutney.

“Some people need permission to experiment,” she says. Once they get the idea, though, stand back.

So go ahead and invite some artisan cheeses to your next get-together. They just might be the life of the party.

Storage tips

Natural cheese is a living food that needs to “breathe.”

Soft cheeses such as Brie should be eaten sooner rather than later. Harder cheeses such as Parmesan will be OK for weeks in the refrigerator.

Blue cheeses can be wrapped in foil. Most other cheeses should be wrapped in parchment or wax paper and then wrapped tightly in plastic. Use new plastic whenever you rewrap the cheese.

Store cheese in the produce bin, which is warmer and more humid than the cheese bin.

Cheese absorbs odors, so store it in the opposite corner of the refrigerator from stinky foods.

If cheese gets moldy, cut off and discard the mold and eat the fresh cheese underneath.

Do not freeze cheese. It compromises the flavor and texture.

Source: Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

Which wine?

White wines are generally easier to pair with cheese than reds.

If you plan to serve just one wine with several cheeses, some experts suggest it be Riesling, a fruity white. If your one wine must be red, make it Pinot Noir. Sparkling wines also go nicely with cheese.

Whatever you do, don’t stress out about finding the one perfect wine, says Ryan Sciara, managing partner at Cellar Rat in Kansas City.

“There won’t be any wines that totally don’t work,” he says. “Nothing will be as bad as drinking orange juice after toothpaste. But obviously, some matches are made in heaven.”

The key is balance. Delicate cheeses need a wine that won’t overpower them. More intensely flavored cheeses can stand up to more muscular wines.

The most idiot-proof way to pair any food and wine is to remember: If it grows together, it goes together, Sciara says. You can’t go wrong picking a French wine to accompany French cheese, for example.

Turn leftover cheese into a tasy snack

Don’t throw away odds and ends of cheese that linger in the refrigerator. Instead, do as the French do and turn them into party snacks.

“Seasoned with fresh garlic and a few splashes of wine, (leftover cheese) makes an assertively flavored topping for toast or thick slices of crusty country bread and tastes best when briefly melted under the broiler,” Steven Jenkins writes in Cheese Primer (Workman Publishing).

Cheese appetizers

Makes 48 pieces

1 pound leftover cheese (Three kinds of cheese are enough, but more is even better.)

½ cup dry white wine

3 or 4 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 loaf (about 1 pound) French bread, sliced in ½-inch slices, toasted

Heat broiler to high. Combine cheese, wine and garlic in a food processor and puree until almost smooth, about 45 seconds.

Spread over toasted bread slices. Broil until bubbly and golden, about 2 minutes.

Adapted from Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins

Some resources

artisanalcheese.com

murrayscheese.com

idealcheese.com

formaggiokitchen.com