What Items Should Be on a Cheese Board?

Cheese boards are great for special occasions and events. They are impressive and delicious and very easy to put together. In addition to that, almost everyone loves cheese as snacks, no matter what kind they are. When it comes to making a cheese board, there are endless possibilities. You can create one for appetizers, for an easy lunch, or even for a late-night snack. They can be fancy as you’d like or are simple as possible.

When putting together a cheese board, you can spend as fast as five minutes or spend half an hour making something fancy. If you have events coming up, like parties, picnics, or a simple lunch with the family, and you’re thinking about fixing a cheese board, we are here to help you. Today, we are giving you a list of the items that should be on a cheese board.

Cheese

The first and most important item that should be on a cheese board is, of course, the cheese. Buying cheese for a cheese board is quite special. Therefore, you need to head to a store that offers a good cheese counter or find a local specialty cheese shop. A cheesemonger is someone who works behind a cheese counter. Since artisanal cheeses need special handling, they will help you in picking good cheeses and will do the slicing and packing.

When choosing various types of cheese, you need to decide first whether you will be putting together a simple or a fancy cheese board. For a simple cheese board, three kinds of are usually enough. But if you are going for something fancy, you can pick five kinds of cheese for your cheese board.

Try to pick different kinds of cheeses, such as soft, semi-soft, semi-firm, and firm. For soft cheeses, you can opt for brie, camembert, or chevre. For semi-soft cheeses, try Gouda, muenster, or fontina. For semi-firm cheese, choose among Comte, Gruyere, or Manchego. And for the firm cheese, go for an aged cheddar or white cheddar.

Meat

Your cheese board should also have a meat portion. This is called the charcuterie. When choosing some meat, you can go for only two varieties. Do not outshine the cheese. You can add salami and prosciutto or pancetta. For the salami, you can choose from either sliced thin from the deli or a bit thicker from a log. When buying meat, it is better to ask for a specific number of slices instead of ordering by the pound. This way, you can be sure that you are getting enough.

Crackers and Bread

If you have some leftover bread from dinner, you can include that in your cheese board. Slice it and serve it along with the crackers that you like. You can include a buttery cracker, a thin mild cracker, and a seedy, grainy cracker.

Extras

The cheese, meat, crackers, and bread are the main items that should be on a cheese board. But aside from those, you can also include some extras to make the cheese board look and feel indulgent and luxurious. The goal is to make it look abundant. Here are some of the extras that you can add to your cheese board:

Pickles and Olives: You can add a briny treat to your cheese board, such as pickled veggies, little pickles, or olives.
Fresh or Dried Fruits: One of the classic fruits to include on a cheese board is grapes. But any other seasonal fruit will look lovely. If you are serving a cheese board in winter, you can add dried fruits. Fruits are a sweet and acidic way to balance the rich and creamy cheeses on the cheese board.
Nuts: Nuts are great to put some crunch and a lot of flavors to your cheese board. You can opt for roasted and seasoned almonds without skins for a smooth texture and unique taste. Some nuts also come in varieties of flavors, such as garlic, Rosemary and Sea Salt, Herbs, and more.
Spreads: You can also add some spreads to your cheese board, such as mustard, honey, or fruit preserves. However, do not pour them over the cheese. Let your visitors decide how they want to pair the cheeses with the spreads. This will also help you save any leftovers easily.

The Cheese Board and Knives

It is also essential to pick a good cheese board. You are free to use a cutting board but never use a plastic one. You can also use plates that you can put next to each other on the table. Then, another important item that should be on the cheese board is cheese knives. These will help your guests to get cheeses from the board. You can put one knife per cheese to prevent the flavors from mixing.

If ever you don’t have special cheese knives, you can also cut thin pieces of cheese ahead of time so that your guests can get them easily. For the soft cheeses, you can simply leave a butter knife on the cheese board.

These are some of the items that should be on a cheese board. Putting together a cheese board is quite simple. You just need to pick out the best cheeses, meat, crackers, and other add-ons. No wonder it has been a favorite snack by a lot of people. We hope this helped you learn more about making a cheese board.