Cheesy Appetizer Ideas

An important cost consideration is the fluctuation of dairy commodity prices. “Dairy flavors add cost stabilization to cheese-based appetizers,” says Hartnett, recommending that adding dairy flavors to dips and sauces for cheese-based appetizers is “another excellent way to deliver the dairy sensory experience to the consumer.” Cheese solids may be reduced to lower fat content and calorie contribution. Using dairy flavors in combination with reduced cheese solids will help create healthful formulas with enhanced flavor attributes.

It’s worth noting that combining flavors can add balance or desired notes. “Butter flavors smooth-out the harshness of EMCs or other harsher components in a formula,” offers Hartnett. “Milk and heavy-cream flavors, in combination with cheese flavors in cost-reduced (lower cheese) formulas, provide the characteristic dairy profile and can enhance the fatty mouthfeel. Combining various cheese flavors in a breading mix provides a unique experience.” She suggests the use of blue, Parmesan or Asiago cheeses in a formula containing mild cheese to bring savory, aged notes.

Powdered dairy flavors can be added to breading mixes used to coat cheese. “To improve the impact of flavors in fried appetizers, it is best to incorporate flavors in both the predust and the batter systems,” Hartnett suggests. “Encapsulated flavors better withstand the high-temperature processing.”

Whether the desired end product is an elegant replication of a gourmet restaurant’s appetizer or the simple addition of melted processed cheese to an ordinary item like french fries, the developer has an ever-broadening palette of cheese and cheese flavors to choose from.

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writer based in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at cindyhazen@cs.com. 

The general trend in cheese appetizers is toward upscale and gourmet cheese flavors, notes Laura Vega, vice president global technical solutions, Edlong Dairy Flavors, Elk Grove Village, IL, as well as the use of “more ethnic and artisan cheese flavors with bolder, flavorful creations,” she says.

Dean Sommer, cheese and food technologist, Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, University of Wisconsin—Madison, sees chefs using gourmet natural cheeses to create appetizers. “They are using Brie and Camembert,” he says. “They are trying to put them in a format where you think they come from a high-end restaurant,” but instead use them in an appetizer application in a typical retail grocery store.

In fact, a recent appetizer menu trend replaces the generic orange cheese topping fries with blue cheese. But there are other options, including artisan-type cheeses.

A washed-rind cheese is typical of an artisan-type cheese. 

Francesca Elfner, sales and marketing director, BelGioioso Cheese, Inc., Denmark, WI, explains: “Washed-rind cheeses are bathed or hand-washed regularly during aging to promote ripening and flavor development. There are several ways to ‘wash’ the cheese, and we prefer to hand-wash in a salt solution.

Washed-rind cheeses are among the most unique and flavorful artisan cheeses.” BelGioioso’s cheeses are aged a minimum of 60 days. Elfner describes them as having a full, earthy flavor, yet with a soft and creamy texture. “It has sweet notes coupled with umami,” she says. “The rind has a very clean flavor and is edible without the mustiness that is typical of some washed-rind cheeses.”

Though comfortable standing alone, “washed-rind cheeses also pair well with fruits and fruit preserves, roasted or candied nuts, and all honey varietals,” says Elfner. She suggests using them baked in puff pastry and served with a portobello-mushroom salsa, or for a foodservice application, making a uniquely flavored crostini, topping bread slices with washed-rind cheese, melting under a broiler and topping with sautéed pears. Restaurant operators can then garnish these with chopped pecans and serve warm. This cheese “lends creativity to appetizer development because of its clean flavor,” she says.