Food & DrinkExplain Like I'm 5Beginner
The Art of the Cheese Board, a free food & drink course on Tomo

The Art of the Cheese Board

Like Duolingo, but for The Art of the Cheese Board. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Tasting and Identifying and Selection and Service. It starts from scratch.

12 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Cheddar the Cheetah, the guide who teaches the The Art of the Cheese Board course
The Art of the Cheese Board
with Cheddar the Cheetah
12
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in The Art of the Cheese Board

  • Cold temperatures suppress the volatile aromatic compounds in cheese
  • The 'finish' refers to the duration and evolution of flavor after swallowing
  • Fat in cheese carries flavor better when it is softened at room temperature
  • High-quality cheeses have a long, lingering finish that reveals complex notes
  • Cold cheese masks the complexity of the milk and aging process
  • A short or 'clipped' finish often indicates a mass-produced or under-aged cheese
  • The impact of temperature on flavor perception
  • Using the 'finish' to judge cheese quality
  • The rind is the exterior 'skin' exposed to air and microbes
  • The paste is the interior 'meat' of the cheese
  • The flavor of the rind is often more intense and atmospheric than the center
  • Smelling prepares the brain to identify specific flavor families like 'nutty' or 'grassy'
  • Distinguishing flavors between the rind and the paste
  • Neutral flavors reset taste buds
  • Strong flavors overwhelm subtle notes
  • The correct sensory sequence for professional tasting
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives The Art of the Cheese Board the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Waking Up the Flavors

What are you checking when you pay attention to a cheese's 'finish'?

Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.

Course map

Where The Art of the Cheese Board takes you

Stop guessing at the deli counter. Learn to identify the four main cheese families, taste like a professional monger, and build a balanced board that impresses every guest.

  1. 1

    Tasting and Identifying

    • Tasting Like a Professional
    • The Four Main Cheese Families
  2. 2

    Selection and Service

    • Building a Balanced Board
    • Storing and Serving Your Finds

2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
Explain Like I'm 5

The Art of the Cheese Board is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Start free

Start The Art of the Cheese Board today.

Download Tomo, search The Art of the Cheese Board, and play your first lesson in under a minute.