One of my first food jobs was working as a cheesemonger, and the busy season that began each November and ran steadily through Valentine’s Day was the stuff of legend. A frenzy of gift basket orders and last-minute holiday party shoppers set the pace and cemented December in my mind as the time to go hard on a cheesy centerpiece. What form, exactly, that centerpiece takes—whether it’s a full wheel of Stilton or a sterling silver parmesan knife—is all up to you.

This compact fondue kit from Ohom gets the job of “melty cheese for dinner” done safely with no open flame, making it the ideal gift for cheese lovers contending with rowdy pets, children, small spaces, or dorm room regulations.

These darling handmade plates are perfect for the turophile who prefers a clear line of demarcation between their raclette and their Roquefort. With a little notice, San Francisco-based ceramicist Frankie Aziz will customize the compartments of one of her kooky single-serve snacking plates with all your gift recipient’s favorite nibbles. More spontaneous shoppers can keep an eye on @frankceramics for the artist’s limited-edition ready-made drops.

Earlier this year, Team SAVEUR brought together a group of trailblazing women from across the artisan cheese industry for an evening of lively conversation, note-swapping, and—of course—a cheese-filled feast for the ages. This season, for a limited time, our event partner Roth Cheese has made the evening’s featured selection available to the public. This festive gift box includes four of the Wisconsin brand’s most beloved cellar-aged cheeses: Canela, Grand Cru, Buttermilk Blue, and Aged Gouda, artfully crafted by Roth’s food scientist and cheesemaker Madeline Kuhn. 

For a cheese-loving couple, look to Boska’s electric raclette grill for two. The handy set comes with an easy-cleaning grill plate, personal pans for warming slabs of the Swiss melting cheese under the heating element, and a pair of sturdy spatulas for scraping the aforementioned cheese over potatoes, cornichons, pearl onions, and anything else that might benefit from a gooey blanket of sizzling mountain cheese. 

If you’re shopping for someone who appreciates the convenience of a well-stocked freezer (so, like, everyone?), you might consider arranging a monthly delivery of oven-ready macaroni and cheese from Manhattan’s ultimate cheese emporium. Each month, recipients can look forward to two 32-ounce baking dishes full of frozen cheesy comfort—one of Murray’s classic mac and a second limited-edition club-exclusive specialty flavor. 

It’s no exaggeration to say that I look forward to Rush Creek season all year long. Certified master cheesemaker Andy Hatch produces the Alpine-inspired cow’s milk cheese from raw milk every autumn in the driftless green hills of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. This holiday season, I’m sending a few of the spruce-wrapped beauties to friends, bundled for gifting with a few more Wisconsin-made treats like candied pecans, basswood honey, and crisp Potters Crackers, perfect for scooping right into the custardy cheese. And if you’re looking for a one-stop shop, there are plenty more Wisconsin gift baskets to choose from for all the cheese lovers on your list.

When Noma Projects launched its Mushroom Garum in 2022, it sold out almost immediately. This year, the Copenhagen-based brand (an offshoot of René Redzepi’s renowned restaurant) launched an expanded line of condiments with the aim of sharing “the flavors, knowledge, and innovations of Restaurant Noma with people everywhere.” This velvety sweet-and-savory praline is made from the sediment leftover from extracting pumpkin seed oil, which is then re-enriched with pine and parsley oils and lightly sweetened with muscovado sugar. I love it swirled into a cheesecake or as a finishing drizzle in a cheesy risotto. Order a solo jar or get it as a part of this Holiday Flavor Pack. The brand’s collaboration with artist David Shrigley on the packaging makes this a particularly chic gift for cheese- and art-loving giftees alike.

Zingerman’s is so much more than the kooky deli it began as in 1982. Now Ann Arbor, Michigan’s shining beacon of specialty food and customer service, it’s often my first stop when shopping for a great mail-order food gift. Families who love a project—and cheese—will be sure to enjoy one of the brand’s home cheesemaking kits.

Who needs diamonds when you can bring a little Tiffany flare to your cheese board with this stubby sterling shiv from the designer of the brand’s iconic bone cuff? (And if you’re feeling particularly flush this season, spring for a spreader and cocktail forks to match.)

This chic hardwood cheese-and-charcuterie serving board was both designed and handmade by Berea College students. All sales go to benefit the school—the first interracial college in the American South, which is now tuition-free via a work-study program featuring handicrafts such as woodworking, weaving, and ceramics. 

Poking around antiques dealer, designer, and artist John Derian’s cluster of eclectic East Village shops is always a delight, and I’m especially transfixed by his partnership with Parisian ceramicist Astier de Villatte. A full set of the glazed and illustrated terracotta tableware will put you back a pretty penny, but the occasional statement piece—like this cheeky, camembert-size plate, makes a lovely gift.

In 2017, Providence-based baker, chef, and chemical engineer Milena Pagán garnered acclaim for her Kickstarter-funded bagel shop, Rebelle Artisan Bagels. Then, three years later, she made waves with nearby breakfast restaurant and wine store Little Sister. She’s now also selling pantry items and frozen pasteles online for those of us homesick Rhode Islanders who miss her fun and fresh Caribbean-inspired fare. Consider a jar of her handmade jams as an unexpected charcuterie board accoutrement. The fig and caramelized onion flavor shines with hard Alpine-style cheeses, and raspberry-acerola is dreamy as can be alongside fresh chèvre or dolloped atop ricotta toast.

Have you ever uncovered a piece of precut, plastic-wrapped cheese from the supermarket and noticed that the color of the cheese under the label was darker than the rest? Maybe when you bit into it, you recoiled at an unexpectedly stale and cardboardy flavor? If so, congratulations: you’ve experienced light oxidation! This extremely common issue is the unfortunate result of light and oxygen breaking down beta-carotene in cow’s milk. Apart from only eating cheese hacked straight from the wheel by your local cheesemonger, the best way to prevent light oxidation is to store your cheese in a light-blocking material. These German-made black cheese storage bags are a handy, low-waste solution.

Microplane tools were originally developed for woodworking, but the razor-sharp, impressively durable rasps and graters have been long beloved by pro chefs and serious home cooks. This smartly designed box grater is a standout in the category for its super-sturdy construction and oversized grating surface. Its clever inset measurement window and removable trap door makes for particularly convenient and mess-free gratin prep.

We’ve raved over Portugalia Marketplace’s mind-boggling salt cod room and Portuguese wine selection in SAVEUR before. In addition to its massive selection of Portuguese foods, the Fall River, Massachusetts, importer and market also curates a sleek capsule of contemporary Portuguese housewares and fashion. I love this minimalist cheese knife from José Joaquim Ribeiro’s “Gourmet” line. This one is ideal for softer and blue cheeses; make it a set with this sweet mini-cleaver designed for harder varieties.

Maybe you’ve heard that Team SAVEUR is gung-ho on print magazines? We relaunched our own earlier this year and have been voraciously snatching up all the great indie food and drink mags we can get our hands on. I find the more niche titles out there to be especially exciting. Cheese enthusiasts and pros who welcome a steady stream of reading material will welcome an annual subscription to Culture magazine, a one-off copy of the artful British newcomer Cheese—or both!

Whether you’re shopping for a career cheesemaker or an ultra-nerdy armchair enthusiast, Milk Into Cheese is the deep-dive new release you’ve been looking for. Canadian goatherd and cheesemaker David Asher’s textbooky explainer will fascinate anyone hungry for a deeper understanding of traditional cheesemaking techniques (think animal-warm milk, wild starter cultures, and rennet derived from calves and kids).

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