How to Create the Perfect Artisan Cheese Board

Cheese – who doesn’t love it? An artisan cheese board is an easy and essential dish for any party or gathering. A board filled with an array of artisan cheese, cured meats, crackers, fruit, nuts and chutneys not only looks incredibly impressive to the eye, but makes a quick appetizer or post-dinner treat that is sure to please any of your guests.

Whilst artisan cheese boards may look slightly intimidating and fancy to put together, we at The Artisan Food Company are here to show you that it is just an illusion. With the right board and just a few ingredients, you can create an aesthetically-pleasing artisan cheese board fit to take the cover of any food magazine. Follow this guide loosely, adding your own twists and favorite ingredients!

1. Let’s start with the most important items: the board, the bowls and the artisan cheese.

Start by purchasing a large wooden board or slate big enough to hold a range of ingredients – this will depend on the number of guests you are aiming to feed.

We then like to place down our cheeses and some small bowls for dips and smaller items. Try a mix of hard and soft cheeses such as French brie, goats’ cheese, truffled cheddar and blue cheese for the more experimental.

When selecting cheeses, you may also want to consider their shape. We like to cut our hard cheeses into slices or cubes, add slices of triangles swiss cheese and feta sprinkled with chili flakes to make for a more interesting cheeseboard.

Tip: serve the cheese at room temperature by taking it out of the fridge and letting it rest for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

2. Now for the meats, breads and crackers

Select a few of your favorite Italian cured meats to place on the board. We love to use our sliced Italian parma ham and Milano salami. Fan out assorted crackers, bread sticks and fresh crusty bread along the edges of the artisan cheese board to make them easy to reach.

3. Decide on your accompaniments

Now onto our favourite element of any good artisan cheese board. This is the time to really get creative and add some colour and interest to your board! Fruits and vegetables are must haves – grapes, strawberries, melon, figs, citrus fruits, cucumber and piemento peppers are all delicious and eye-catching options.

Next, we like to add some nuts for texture and our favourite Italian green olives for something a little tangy.

4. It’s time to choose your dips

Now it’s time to fill up your bowls. Pesto, honey, fig jam, onion chutney and extra virgin olive oils are all great options. You could even add some creamy hummus for a less traditional option!

5. Add the finishing touches

By now, your artisan cheese board will be well-assembled and sitting beautifully. To finish off, we like to add some green touches to fill in any gaps with a little colour. Try adding some fresh herbs such as rosemary, basil or even some rocket.