Making a Charcuterie Board for the First Time

Ok as you all know charcuterie boards and platters are a big deal. They could really elevate a gathering or event and they are delicious. So for the first time I attempted to create a board on my own. That last part is a complete lie though because I could not have assembled this beauty if I did not do a little bit of homework before going for it. As always I went on my favorite platforms YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok. I found all these great tips on how to assemble, how to choose your items and I even learned some of the most popular choices of cheese that people use for their gorgeous boards.

When I tell you there are so many experts and amazing people online giving us real tips and advice it is such a good feeling. To be honest that is the beauty of the internet if you really want to learn something new you could literally learn just by doing some research. Thankfully many people are there to guide you and give you tips that they had to learn by themselves or that took them a long time to learn.

Since I am not an expert on this subject I will tell you what I think helped me and what I learned. Ok so the most popular cheeses are Brie, goat cheese which comes in many flavors and during the holidays you can find seasonal flavors, cheddar, Manchego which is a sheep milk cheese, Gruyère, and Gouda. Fig butter from Trader Joe’s is a must. Crackers and toasted bread which is not shown here but I did have a separate bowl of toasted baguette on a plate are very important when assembling your different bites. And cutting the slices of meats was a great idea for first time people trying a charcuterie board. In case you want a lot of meat you could always grab multiple small slices.

So for this board I used a hard (Gruyère), crumbly (unexpected cheddar from Trader Joe’s) and a soft (Brie) cheese. Honey, fig butter, and orange jam. Was really tempted to buy the guava jam from Trader Joe’s though. Used fig and olive crackers from Trader Joe’s. Grapes, cherries, strawberries, orange slices, Korean pears, apples and dried apricots. Included dark chocolate almonds and a mix of honey toasted nuts. And last but not least I used the spanish trio pack of meats from Trader Joe’s which included prosciutto, salami and sausage. But the most fun part besides shopping for the ingredients and coming up with what will be in the board is the assembling. What do you guys think? Was it ok for a first shot at a charcuterie board? What kind of platter or board would you guys create? Until next time.