How to build the Ultimate Cheese Board
Every celebration deserves a cheese board and in our house that means one that is Gluten-free and with Vegan options. A great cheese board is welcoming and crowd pleasing because it has something for everyone and offers a mix of textures and flavors that is both visually appealing and tastes great. Follow these simple tips and have fun with it!
Ingredients
- 1 soft cheese --a Robiola a brie
- 2 hard cheese -- we used a Challerhocker and Gouda
- 1 Vegan cheese -- we opted for Kitehill chive cream cheese spread
- Dried Figs or Dried Cherries
- Dried Apricots
- Gluten-free nut mix or cashews candied pecans
- Crispy Wasabi Chickpeas
- Fresh Grapes
- Pomegranate seeds
- apple slices
- strawberries
- Fig Jam
- Honey Comb
- 4 Gluten-free crackers - we used Absolutely Gluten-free Original Breton Gluten-free Original with Flax, and two Mary's Gone Crackers. Jilz Gluten-free crackers also a great option.
- 1 board - slate wooden, or a serving platter.
Instructions
How to basics:
- Choose your board. We used a Slate board but a wooden board or serving plate of any kind will do
- Choose your cheeses so that there are different textures and/or different cheese sources (i.e. cow, sheep, goat) -- we chose a soft cheese, hard cheese and vegan cheese spread. If I weren't including the vegan option, I might have added a fresh cheese like a goat cheese or a blue cheese for something stronger.
- Add different flavors and textures: Add salty foods (we did lot of olives), crunchy foods (we added nuts and crispy chickpeas), sweet foods (dried fruit is a great options -- we added dried figs and dried apricots) and fresh fruit (I always love added fresh grapes because they stay fresh the entire evening and are easy to eat, plus we added pomegranates, strawberries and sliced apple)
- Add condiments or spreads-- fig jam, honey, olive tapenade.
- Add your favorite gluten-free crackers. We looked for different shapes.
- Overall tip: in choosing all the above, think about choosing things are are different colors, different shapes and different textures to add interest to your board including seasonal items.
- Have fun with it!
Before assembling the entire board, do a test run. Take a few pieces of each item you're using and lay out out on your board so see how things will look next to each other.
- Try to separate items that are similar colors and put contrasting colors or textures near one another for visual appeal.
- Separate the cheeses for visual appeal.
- Consider putting some items in little bowls for visual interest as well.
- When happy with your "test board", place everything on the board. Serve and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyGFFamily or tag #HealthyGFFamily!
Saw this and got confident enough to make my own. Turned out to be a hit and everyone finished it! It’s so customizable but looking at the pics helped me organize in an appeasing way! Will make another charcuterie board next year also!