There’s no doubt that charcuterie boards are beautiful and delicious! They are easy to make, easy for guests to pick at, and naturally brings people together. We’re here to help guide you in perfecting the art of putting together a board that everyone will love.
Credit: Mom On Time Out
To start… What is Charcuterie?
Charcuterie (pronounced shar-koo-tuh-ree) is the art of preparing meats, often cured or smoked. You can think of it as an elevated version of a cheese board and as such, charcuterie boards consist of cheeses, meats, fruits, nuts, and sometimes spreads.
Often you can find them on restaurant menus, as an appetizer during events, holiday parties, etc. Today, we’re going to show you how to make one to enjoy at home or for your next special occasion!
Choosing the Board
Pick a board, any board! It can be wooden, marble, a serving tray, anything. You will be covering the entire board so sometimes you won’t even see what type of board is underneath until the very end.
Gathering the Elements
You want to be mindful of what you’re adding to your board. It’s important to have a charcuterie board that is colorful with a variety of textures.
Things that can add color can be tomatoes, apple slices, herb garnishes, pickles, and grapes. Take note, you don’t want to group too many like colors together. Instead, spread them throughout the board to add pops of color here and there.
Next is texture – you want to create a balance of smooth and shiny with rough and edgy. A few examples of smooth texture would be the shiny dried fruits, like Life’s Grape’s Classic Vine Dried Grapes, or jams and honey. For dry and rough, you can add crackers, nuts, and Life’s Grape’s Dark Chocolate Dipped Vine Dried Grapes.
Board Assembly
Start with wet items like jams, honey, dips, and mustards. Put these into little bowls in a variety of sizes, shapes, and color. This helps keep the wet items contained and also provides you with something sturdy to lean crackers, cheese, or meat against. You can also add wet cheeses like mozzarella balls into little bowls. Spread these bowls out and place them in random spots on the board.
After positioning your bowls, place your larger meat and cheese items on the board first. Keep in mind that you want to estimate about 3-4 slices of meat per person. You can roll or fold some of your meats if they’re too large then thoughtfully pile them onto your board. As for cheese, wedges of blue cheese or brie look beautiful next to folded meats while smaller cubed cheeses look great next to sliced salami and crackers. You want to offer a variety of cheeses, hard to soft and mellow to sharp as you never know what your guests will enjoy most.
Credit: Mom On Time Out
Garnishes
Fill in any gaps you have with your Life's Grape, fresh/dried fruits and nuts and then add fresh herbs for garnish. Now you’re all done and can show off your charcuterie board to all your friends and family.
Let us know if you decide to use Life’s Grape on your next charcuterie board and tag us in your photos @lifes_grape, we’d love to see it and share!