Now, I'm sure by this point we're all pretty sick of date nights-in and can't wait to get back to enjoying a meal out at our favourite restaurants BUT while we're stuck celebrating another holiday at home, there's no better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with an epic cheese & charcuterie board.
A charcuterie and cheese board is a trusty date night go-to for a reason. Not only is it delicious, but the combinations of flavours, textures, colours and shapes are virtually limitless, making each board a unique experience. Also, it's just so dang pretty to look at!
So if you're planning on making a cheese and charcuterie board and wondering how to put together a beautiful and tasty display, we've got you covered.
Crafting a Pinterest-worthy charcuterie and cheese board really isn't as hard as it looks! It's all about balance — you want a good mix of salty, creamy, sweet, soft, and crunchy as well as a balance in the distribution of your elements on the actual board.
In this post we'll be taking you through how to select what cheeses, meats, preserves and accompaniments to add to your board as well as tips and tricks for styling a cheese and charcuterie board that will be sure to impress your Valentine or make a nice treat to enjoy yourself, because Valentine's Day is about love and self-love is the most important.
If you can't be with your Valentine in person this year, send him or her one of our Valentine's Day Cheese & Charcuterie Boxes. Grab one for yourself and enjoy a date night together on video chat.
Choosing Elements of Your Cheese & Charcuterie Board
When it comes to selecting what elements to pair together on your charcuterie and cheese board, variety is everything!
Texture
Going back to what we said about balance, you want to make sure that you select cheeses and accompaniments that are different from one another in taste and texture.
If you pick a cheese that is soft and creamy with a mild flavour, like a Brie or a Camembert, you'll also want to pick another cheese that is firm with more sharpness like an aged cheddar, aged Gouda or Comte.
You also want your accompaniments to vary in texture. For crunch, add some crackers, apples, pears, nuts or pickled veggies. For softer texture, try berries, dried fruits, savoury shortbread cookies, fresh baguette and preserves.
Sweet & Salty
Every good charcuterie and cheese board also has a balance of sweet and salty elements. For sweet elements, you can opt for a sweet preserves like our Provisions Rose Petal & Gewürztraminer Wine Jelly or Bartlett Pear & Riesling Jelly, fresh or dried fruits, honey or honeycomb, chocolate, or cookies.
For salty elements, you can select salty cheeses like our Stonetown Wildwood Appenzeller or Grand Trunk cheeses, cured meats, a more savoury preserve like our, assorted nuts, olives, pickled carrots or salty crackers.
How to Assemble Your Charcuterie & Cheese Board
The first thing you want to do is to start by placing your largest elements on your board. This is most often your cheeses and your preserves! Add your cheeses spaced out around your board and then add your preserves. You can scoop out some of the preserves from the jar into small bowls or dishes to look even more visually pleasing!
Next, add your medium sized elements like your sliced salami or other cured meats, and your crackers or breads, also spaced out in a few different places around the board. You want to avoid grouping similar elements beside each other. For example don't group all your meat side by side and all your breads and crackers together. Space them out so you have a balance of colours.
Lastly, add your smaller elements to fill in the empty spaces left on the board. Some great ideas for these spaces are fresh fruits like pears, apples, berries or grapes, dried fruits, nuts, olives, fresh honeycomb or even chocolate — it is Valentine's Day after all!
Our Valentine's Day Cheese & Charcuterie Board
The local cheeses, cured meats and preserves that we used to create our cheese and charcuterie board are bundled together in our Valentine's Day Cheese & Charcuterie Box! Here's what you'll need to recreate this board at home:
- Valentine's Day Cheese & Charcuterie Box
- Warner's Farm Bosc Pear
- Cherry Lane Dried Cherries
- Mike & Mike's Walnuts
- Norfolk Honeycrisp Apple (choose your favourite apple variety!)
- Mike & Mike's Mint for Garnish
