Shoutout to the person who told me to stop stacking wet fruit on my cheese plates

I kept seeing people post snack plates with sliced strawberries or grapes sitting right on top of brie or soft cheese, and I always wondered why they looked so sad after 20 minutes. Last week I tried an experiment with two identical plates - one with fruit directly on the cheese and one with a little parchment paper barrier. The cheese under the fruit got all soggy and started smelling weird after 30 minutes, while the other plate held up fine for over an hour. It's such a simple fix, but I notice almost everyone at potlucks makes this mistake. Have you guys dealt with fruit juices ruining a cheese corner at a party?

2 comments

2 Comments

tara_palmer1mo ago

I had the same problem and what worked for me was just putting a little bed of arugula or lettuce between the fruit and the cheese. It stops the juice from soaking in and gives you a nice bite of greens with the cheese. I also found that drying the fruit slices with a paper towel before putting them on the plate helps a ton. Thicker sliced fruit like apple or pear holds up better than berries or chopped mango. The soggy cheese corner thing is real and I always felt bad tossing it out at parties.

patriciaellis1mo ago

Right, so the experiment proves it's really about the moisture, but what about the flavor transfer? I've had people tell me they like the fruit juice mixing with the cheese, but to me that just tastes like a wet, sour mess. Do you think it's more about how wet the fruit is or what kind of cheese you're pairing together? Because I've seen some people try it with hard cheese and it still gets that weird smell if the fruit is too ripe.