How to build the Ultimate Cheese Board
Ingredients
- 1 soft cheese --a Robiola a brie
- 2 hard cheese -- we used a Challerhocker and Gouda
- 1 Vegan cheese optional -- we often use Kitehill chive cream cheese spread
- Dried Figs
- Dried Apricots
- Gluten-free nut mix or cashews candied pecans, pistachios
- Fresh Grapes
- additional fresh fruit - strawberries raspberries, apples
- additional fresh veggies-- carrots radish, snap peas
- Fig Jam
- Honey Comb
- seasonal fun -- here we added jelly beans and chocolate eggs
- 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) -- here we chose a soft cheese and 2 hard cheeses . Sometimes we add a vegan cheese spread.
- Add different flavors and textures: Add salty foods (we did lot of olives), crunchy foods (we added nuts), 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)
- Add seasonal fun -- jelly beans, chocolate eggs
- 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.
- 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!