12 Fruit And Cheese Pairings Perfect For A Summer Picnic

Summer time calls for picnics, and they don't always need to be at a park or garden. Where I live in Florida, summer is the worst time for a traditional outdoor meal on the grass. Instead, we opt for beach days and pool days to keep cool while enjoying some light nibbles. And if the weather is stormy, you may even decide to enjoy a living room spread on the floor. Regardless of the format, these gatherings require good food that's easy to prepare, pack, and eat. And unless you're dragging along an army of munchkins who require PB&Js, many people use picnics as an opportunity to indulge in something just a little fancy. Few things elevate a moveable feast as easily as a cheese-and-fruit pairing.

The wonderful thing about this combo is that you can find something elegantly delicious at almost any price point, and your pairings can be as approachable as Babybel and raisins or more niche, like Saint Angel and lychee, depending on the vibe you want to create. I used to work at the cheese counter at Whole Foods Market, and one of my greatest pleasures was guiding customers to options they hadn't heard of before while recommending interesting accoutrements. Below, I've rounded up my favorite pairings for planning a postcard-perfect summer picnic, including some classic combinations with products you can find at most supermarkets. But there are also some more obscure items that may require a special trip, though your efforts will be deliciously rewarded.

Havarti, a Danish cheese, has a texture that's just on the verge of being spreadable and a slightly tangy flavor and creamy mouthfeel, which make sweet, juicy blueberries a perfect pairing. Havarti sometimes includes Nordic-inspired flavorings like dill, caraway, and horseradish, and blueberries also pair well with all those flavors.

Feta cheese is closely associated with Greece, but native varieties are found in many countries under different names. I'm a huge fan of Bulgarian feta for its creaminess, but even American-made versions of this cheese pair superbly with watermelon. The sugary fruit offsets the intensely salty and tart flavors of this brined cheese beautifully. Add a few mint leaves to create a beautiful three-ingredient watermelon salad.

Because blue cheeses tend to be sharp, they need a less acidic fruit to balance that flavor, and the port wine-like complexity of fresh figs complements the funkiness of nearly any blue variety. If you can't find fresh figs, dried figs work well, too, and highlight the deeper notes of a more premium blue, like Roquefort.

Queso blanco and guava is a wildly popular pairing in many Latin American countries, especially those where this tropical fruit flourishes. Queso blanco is sometimes confused with Mexican-style queso fresco, but the latter is typically crumbly, while the former is sliceable and slightly squeaky. Its mild, fresh-milk flavor pairs beautifully with complex, tangy fruits like guava. If you don't like dealing with all the gravelly seeds in the fresh fruit, opt for guava paste or guava shells.

Ricotta is another mild, fresh cheese that you may be more accustomed to layering inside a cheesy spinach lasagna, but it actually pairs magnificently well with mango. You'll want to opt for a top-shelf ricotta for this, or drain a standard American brand in a colander until it's thick. While ripe mango can work here, try to find one that's just a little too firm, as the puckery acidity of an underripe fruit can bring even mediocre ricotta to life.

I know them as aguaymanto, but you may know them as husk cherries or cape gooseberries. They look a little like tiny, golden tomatillos, which makes sense because they're relatives of tomatoes. You may see where I'm going with this. Use these in place of tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, and you'll get a similar texture with a flavor that can range from sour candy to honey-flavored nectar. Add herbs for a unique take on a simple Caprese salad.

Sharp cheddar here can range from a block of what you grate over Southern casseroles to a crumbly, 10-year-old clothbound wheel that looks like an excavated mummy. These cheeses get their name for a reason: They're tangy and strong. The longer they mature, the more complex (and funky) they become. You need something sweet to balance those flavors, and dates are the perfect match.

There are few cheeses as unctuous as Délice de Bourgogne, the delight of Burgundy. When I was working the cheese counter, I described it as brie's hot cousin. It has a flavor somewhere between brie and Camembert, and it literally melts in your mouth within milliseconds of hitting your tongue. Like brie, this cheese isn't very acidic, so tart raspberries really cut through the richness of this triple-cream French beauty.

If you like the texture of brie but want something milder and creamier, Saint Angel is the cheese for you. It tastes and feels like butter but is far from bland. You need a juicy, slightly acidic fruit like lychee to offset all that richness, and this Asian fruit's complex, perfumed notes really shine when paired with Saint Angel while also bringing out the cheese's nuances. Or you can pair your dairy with a summery lychee lemonade.

Manchego is a sheep's milk cheese from Spain that has a tangy, piquant flavor and a waxy texture that quickly turns creamy. Quince is generally too astringent to be consumed raw, but it's delicious as a sweetened paste. Its high pectin content creates a viscous mouthfeel that enhances Manchego's creaminess, while its sweet, fresh-pressed cider flavor tames this intense Spanish cheese.

This was a pairing that a young customer came up with and that also appears in Indonesian cuisine. You can't really tell when tasting a young Gouda, but once you crack into the vintage wheels, you'll notice that this cheese has a butterscotch-verging-on-caramel finish. If you can get past the saltiness of an older Gouda, you may even taste a bit of sweet cream. Bananas accentuate this creamy sweetness without detracting from the cheese's complex flavors.

Mahón is a cow's milk cheese from Spain that looks like Muenster, has a texture somewhere between Gouda and Pecorino Romano, and tastes like Gouda's and Muenster's sassy offspring. Muscadines have some wild, foraged-fruit notes (just don't eat the thick, leathery skins, and spit out the astringent seeds). They're a highly seasonal and much more interesting accoutrement than standard grapes, and they bring out Mahón's more subtle complexity.