How to use cheese in food styling

Cheese can be the hero, a prop, or garnish in a picture. Cheese seems to have a soothing effect in a colorful frame. I had some fun and some tense moments while shooting with cheese. It is a slightly tricky ingredient to work with; however, the results are beautiful when done right.

On a lighter note, I love adding cheese in the frame because I get to eat it at the end of the shoot.

Here are my top five favorite kinds of cheese and some ways and tricks to use them.

Feta cheese: I use it in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. I add it to my salads, dips and also use it as garnish. The best way to use it as garnish is to crumble it. Feta cubes also look great in salads. Marinated feta cheese balls are great as a food prop.

Parmesan cheese: I love using a chunk of this cheese as a prop. Grated and shaved, Parmesan looks impressive on salads and pasta. It’s a relatively easy cheese to work with and store. It comes in handy when there is an action shot of sprinkling cheese.

Fresh mozzarella: the trick to keeping fresh mozzarella nice and shiny is to keep them in the saline water till you are ready to shoot. Drizzling olive oil does serve the purpose too. Perfect for salads, toasts, skewers, etc.

Burrata: It becomes the star the moment I place it in the frame. Cut or whole, it adds to the textures in the frame. 

Paneer: Such a versatile cheese. Another easy cheese to work with. Cut in triangles or cubes; this cheese looks perfect sitting on top of gravies and curries. I use it in Indian dishes and recently used it in Thai curry. Slightly frying it in oil makes it look rich. It looks gorgeous with grill marks as kebabs.

I hope these tips help you work with cheese better. I will be back soon with another blog post on the next five kinds of cheese.