Crafting The Perfect Summer Charcuterie Board
As the temperatures rise, embrace the sunny vibes of the season with a stunning Summer Charcuterie Board. Always a crowd pleaser, these boards include a medley of fresh fruit and vegetables, savoury dips, an array of cheeses and more, all carefully arranged to create a beautiful spread.
In This Article
What Makes This Recipe So Good?
We all know the phrase “we eat with our eyes first”. This certainly holds true when creating an easy summer charcuterie board. A feast for the senses, the gorgeous colours along with the mix of tastes and textures all draw us in.
A well-designed charcuterie board allows us ample opportunity to consume a host of nutrients. With the abundance of fresh produce it contains, it can be a very nourishing meal. The ingredients that provide the most nourishment – fruit, vegetables, nuts, homemade dips, wholesome crackers, and cheese – should be plentiful. These give us a multitude of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to enjoy.
Add any processed meats or meat products sparingly. These are not particularly health-promoting; however, I think my family would stage a protest if I didn’t include at least a few for them!
Ingredients To Include In A Summer Charcuterie Board
Charcuterie boards are an easy way to feed a crowd year-round but they’re never more alluring than Summertime. All the bright, colourful, and delicious summer produce makes these boards a perfect centrepiece for your table. You don’t need any special ingredients either. You can find everything at your local grocery store or farmers market.
Suggestions For Your Grazing Board
- Fresh fruits and vegetables – Choose an array of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Go for stone fruit, fresh berries, fresh figs, or any of your favorite summer fruits. For the vegetables, things like asparagus, greens beans, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes are all great options.
- Cheese – Aim for a mix of soft, semi-soft, and hard cheeses. For soft cheeses try goat cheese, a wheel of brie, or blue cheese. For semi-hard try cheddar, Manchego, or gruyère. And for hard cheese try pecorino or parmesan. Don’t forget to add your favorite cheese too! You’ll need about 30-40g/1-1.5oz per cheese per person.
- Pickles and ferments – these add a delicious tang and are great pairings for cheese. Dill pickles, olives, or pickled onions all help balance the richness of the cheeses and meats.
- Preserves – additions like quince paste, fig jam (or any jam) and chutneys add extra colour and flavour.
- Nuts and Dried fruit – Try almonds, walnuts, macadamias, or pistachios and for dried fruits consider apricots, muscatels, or dried figs.
- Dips – Beetroot hummus, babaganoush, pesto and tzatziki all add a variety of colours. Give my pumpkin hummus and dairy free pesto a go!
- Variety of meats – use smaller amounts of thinly sliced meat so they’re not the focus of your wholesome grazing board. Prosciutto, bresaola, and salami are always popular. You’ll need about 30g/1 ounce in total per person.
- Bread and Crackers – baguette slices, pita chips, or any of your favorite crackers, in addition to garden-fresh veggies like Dutch carrots and radishes, are great for dipping.
- Edible flowers and fresh herbs – Used as added decorations on the board but can also be eaten. Never add any decorations to your board that aren’t edible!
You may also like to include dark chocolate for a touch of bitterness. This is a great pairing with the berries in particular.
If you have vegan guests attending, leave off the meats and either serve a separate cheese plate or replace the cheese with any number of vegan options.
How To Make This Summer Charcuterie Board
Give yourself plenty of time to work on your masterpiece so you’re relaxed and create a truly stunning board. Remember, you don’t need to follow strict rules. That said – a few guiding principles will help you place ingredients with ease. Most importantly, have fun and experiment with flavours and presentations to suit your preferences and those of your guests.
Clean and dry your chosen board. Then start by laying down larger items, filling in the gaps with smaller items scattered in between, and ensuring you alternate colours, shapes, and textures throughout for an aesthetically pleasing layout.
- Place the cheeses – Use cheese of different shapes and sizes to create visual interest and spread them out to create balance and variation in colours across the board.
- Add a selection of bread and crackers – again choosing different shapes and sizes. These are best in corners or along the edges of the board with a few in the middle for balance.
- Add a few small bowls of dips – these pair well with the veg, crackers and some of the meats. Drizzle with olive oil to keep them fresh.
- Layer in meats if using – Fold or roll the selection of meats for better presentation and position them alongside or overlapping the cheeses. Aim for an even distribution across the board.
Now Start To Fill In The Gaps
- Include pickled and preserved foods for a bit of tang – Arrange olives (in a small bowl), dill pickles, or small bowls of chutneys near the cheeses to balance flavours.
- Add fresh fruits and vegetables – to introduce vibrant colours and textures. Add clusters of grapes, fig and kiwi fruit halves and place handfuls of fresh summer berries in empty spaces on the board. Then add fresh vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, carrots, and pan-fried asparagus spears evenly between the meats and cheeses at different angles for visual appeal and bursts of colour.
- Incorporate nuts and dried fruit – by scattering them throughout the gaps in the board.
- Final touches – Look over the board and note any imbalances in colours and textures, also note any remaining gaps. Utilise these remaining empty spaces by garnishing with fresh herbs like rosemary sprigs or adding edible flowers. If there are larger spaces left, add more clusters of grapes, nuts, or a small bowl of dip to enhance the visual appeal.
To optimise taste, texture, and overall enjoyment of the various elements serve this delicious charcuterie board at room temperature. Taking it out of the fridge roughly 20 to 30 minutes before guests arrive is perfect.
Substitutions And Variations
The above how-to is just one of many ways to create and enjoy a simple charcuterie board for easy entertaining. While these are particularly enjoyable during the summer months, they suit any season. They also serve as an excellent snack board for family movie nights when you’re too tired to cook.
More Summer Charcuterie Board Ideas:
- Make a vegetarian or vegan platter.
- For the Southern Hemisphere – Choose fruit, vegetables and cheese that fit the red, green, and white Christmas theme.
- Create a seasonal cheese board and scatter around a few berries and crackers to add colour and texture.
- Make a summer breakfast board! Add plenty of fruit, small pots of granola or overnight oats, and include protein like eggs and vegetable waffles too.
Expert Hints And Tips
Given the inclusion of meats and cheeses, the board mustn’t sit out for the entire day. Food Standards Australian New Zealand specify that perishable foods such as cold meats and cheeses are safe unrefrigerated for a maximum of 4 hours. After that, they must be discarded.
However, if you anticipate having leftovers, limit the duration the board is out to a maximum of 2 hours. Perishable foods left unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours shouldn’t be refrigerated and consumed again.
Storing/Freezing/Make Ahead
Assembling the board ahead of time is fine. Although I suggest adding the crackers just before serving, as they can go soggy in the fridge.
If you plan on serving leftovers later in the day store the board in the fridge covered in a beeswax wrap or plastic wrap. If saving the leftovers for yourself I recommend keeping everything in separate containers, again to avoid soggy ingredients. Be sure to check my food safety tips in the section above too!
FAQs
While charcuterie boards are versatile, a few items aren’t suitable. This is largely due to the clash of flavours or textures. This includes things like preserved fish, messy, watery, or oily foods, or very spicy foods.
A charcuterie board is an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, spreads, and the inclusion of bread or crackers. It’s a versatile spread, often arranged on a wooden board or platter beautifully arranged to be shared among friends or as an appetiser at gatherings.
Other Great Additions For A Charcuterie Board
If you try this recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment, rate it, and remember to tag @wholenaturalkitchen in your pics or reels on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok!
Creating The Perfect Summer Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- 1 Large Serving Board
Ingredients
CHEESES (See note 1)
- 100 g brie
- 100 g manchego
- 100 g blue
- 100 g pecorino
MEATS (See note 2)
- 100 g prosciutto
- 100 g salami
- 100 g bresaola
DIPS AND PRESERVES (See note 3)
- 100 g beetroot hummus
- 100 g pesto
- 100 g babaganoush or tzatziki
- 80 g chutney or jam
FRUIT
- ½ punnet, blueberries
- ½ punnet, raspberries
- ½ punnet, strawberries
- 150 g cherries, about 1 cup / 5oz
- 1 large bunch of seedless grapes, (green or red)
- 1 large kiwi fruit, sliced in half through the middle in a zigzag pattern
- 1 large fig, sliced in half lengthways
VEGETABLES
- 2 bunches asparagus, pan-fried in olive oil for 5-6 mins to char slightly then leave to cool.
- 1 bunch Dutch carrots, washed and trimmed
- 2 bunches cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 1 bunch radishes, washed and trimmed
PICKLES
- 5 large, dill pickles
- ½ cup olives
CRACKERS
- ½ pack round crackers
- ½ pack lavosh crackers
- ½ pack pita chips/crackers
- ½ baguette, sliced into rounds
DRIED FRUIT AND NUTS
- ½ cup roasted macadamias
- ½ cup roasted almonds or walnuts
- 1 small fruit log, sliced (or ½ cup dried almond/figs)
OTHER ADDITIONS
- Edible flowers to scatter for decoration
- Herbs like rosemary and thyme to scatter for decoration
Instructions
- Clean and dry your chosen board or platter.
PLACE DOWN THE LARGER ITEMS FIRST
- Place the cheeses – Use cheese of different shapes and sizes to create visual interest. Go for rounds, and wedges and also slice up a wedge or cut it into cubes to create another shape. Spread them out across the board to create balance and variation in colours.
- Add your selection of bread and crackers – these are best in corners or along the edges of the board with a few in the middle for balance. These are usually eaten with the cheese and dips so placing them close by makes it easier for your guests to grab them.
- Add a few small bowls of dips – again spreading them out to balance both the colour and size of other things that are already on the board. Drizzle the top of the dips with olive oil to keep them fresh.
- Layer in meats if you're using them – Fold or roll the selection of meats so they're more visually appealing and are not placed down in a slab. Position them alongside or overlapping the cheeses and aim for an even distribution.
NOW START FILLING IN THE GAPS
- Arrange your pickles and preserves like olives, dill pickles, small bowls of chutneys or jams. The olives are something I will put in another small bowl, so the oil doesn't mess up the board.
- Add your selection of fresh fruits and vegetables – these will add an abundance of vibrant colours and new textures. Add clusters of grapes, and place handfuls of fresh summer berries in empty spaces on the board. Then add fresh vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, carrots, and pan-fried asparagus spears evenly between the meats and cheeses at different angles for visual appeal and bursts of colour. Use the fig and kiwi fruit halves as decorations and place them anywhere that needs a pop of colour.
- Incorporate nuts and dried fruit – by scattering them throughout any small gaps in the board.
FINAL TOUCHES
- Look over the board and note any imbalances in colours and textures, and also note any remaining gaps. If there are larger spaces left, add more clusters of grapes, nuts, or a small bowl of dip to enhance the visual appeal. If not, utilise these remaining spaces by garnishing with fresh herbs like rosemary sprigs or adding edible flowers.
TO SERVE
- If you've made the board ahead of time remove it from the fridge 20-30 mins before serving so the flavour of all the ingredients is more pronounced. Serve with plenty of cheese knives and spoons scattered around.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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