How To Make Your Own Charcuterie Board

What is a Charcuterie Board?
Charcuterie boards are a great addition to any gathering with family or friends – or even to change up your afternoon snack during a day at home! Originating from France, Charcuterie boards usually include cheeses, breads, fruits, nuts, and cured meats served on a board of wood. They are now staples in restaurants and homes in the U.S. today. A charcuterie board can be an assortment of any category of food, which is what makes charcuterie boards so fun and delicious!
Types of Charcuterie Boards
Charcuterie boards can be changed to fit any theme or preference. Here are some common types:
- Classic Charcuterie Board: Includes cured meats (like prosciutto, salami, and chorizo), cheeses (such as brie, cheddar, and gouda), crackers or bread, fruits, nuts, and condiments.
- Sweet Board: A dessert version with a selection of chocolates, cookies, fruits, nuts, and sweet spreads like Nutella or caramel sauce.
- Cheese Board: A selection of cheeses, with bread, crackers, fruits, nuts, and condiments like honey or jam.
- Mediterranean Board: Features hummus, olives, feta cheese, pita bread, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, and tzatziki.
- Vegetarian Board: Includes a variety of cheeses, vegetables (both raw and pickled), dips like hummus or tzatziki, nuts, fruits, and crackers or bread.
How to Make a Classic Charcuterie Board
Ingredients You’ll Need!
1. Cured Meats:
Sausages
Premium Wisconsin summer sausage! Includes:
- 1 Original
- 2 Garlic
- 2 Caraway
- 8 oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
Gloria (Florida)“This sausage was so good…along with cheese and crackers…a meal in itself…friends and family couldn’t stop enjoying the flavor the sausage contained…it’s a big family treat for company.”
Beef Sticks
These savory snacks are made the old-fashioned way for superior flavor.
- Premium cuts of beef are combined with zesty seasonings
- Spiced blend is stuffed into natural beef casings
- Each stick is hardwood smoked to perfection
- Six 1-oz. sticks
Customer Review:
“Very delicious but warning, don’t take them to work because you will get 1 and your co-workers the remaining 🙂 Next time I buy more or hide them.”
Wild Game Sausages
Farm-raised “wild” game meats are expertly seasoned and hardwood smoked. 1 lb. 8oz. net wt.
- Hearty servings of Elk, Buffalo and Venison meat
- Blended with pork and beef to create moist, savory sausages
Customer Review:
(Centennial, Colorado)“I LOVE these. This is the second batch I’ve bought. They make an extraordinary application to meat + cheese boards.
2. Cheeses:
Big Baby Swiss Cheese
This award-winning cheese is made just a few miles from our offices in Green County, Wisconsin.
- Our Baby Swiss has glistening “eyes,” nut-sweet, buttery-rich flavor and creamy smoothness.
- A gift of premium craftsmanship, flavor and quality.
Customer Review:
(Michigan)“I’ve ordered this cheese many times. It’s great in sandwiches, on crackers or by itself. Nothing in the stores compare to it. It’s always sad when I get to the end.”
2-year Vintage Cheddar Cheese
This extraordinary, all-natural sharp cheddar cheese is assertive, full-bodied and robust.
- Quietly aged more than two years to develop a magnificent character not easily forgotten
- It’s wonderfully sharp, and the texture and flavor are incomparable
Customer Review:
(Bloomington, IL)“I always like to order my cheese from Swiss Colony for special holidays, but also for every day!”
Big Red Cheddar Cheese
We select only the best Wisconsin Cheddar Cheeses.
- Firm and smooth with a mellow flavor.
- The Cheddar Cheese is sealed in red wax to lock in all its marvelous, full-bodied flavor.
Carba (Indiana)‘It has that wonderful Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese taste. Delicious!”
3. Nuts
Triple Nut Tin
Know someone who loves snacking on nuts? Here’s a gift filled with crunch and variety! Our spring gift tin is divided into three compartments, containing:
- Roasted, salted Almonds
- Roasted, salted Cashews
- Deluxe Mixed Nuts
- 12oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
“I used the nuts for snacks at our house party and all of our guest love them.”
Nut Carousel
If you know someone who loves snacking on nuts, this variety will take them around the world! Includes:
- In-shell pistachios
- Roasted and salted cashews
- Pecan halves
- Macadamia nuts
- Almonds
- Mixed nuts with peanuts
- 1 lb. 4 1/2-oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
“I’ve bought these nuts the last few years for my son-in-law for Christmas. It works out great for both of us. He gets a treat he loves and I get tell him “you are what you eat” 🤣 But, seriously, this is a great assortment and are always fresh. Great for gift-giving.”
Arranging the Classic Charcuterie Board:
- Place small bowls for condiments, dips, or olives on the board first.
- Arrange cheeses in different parts of the board, spacing them out. Cut a few slices or chunks from each cheese to make it easier for guests to serve themselves.
- Fold or roll slices of meat and place them around the cheeses and bowls. Arrange them in small piles or fanned out.
- Fill in gaps with crackers and slices of bread, stacking them or fanning them out.
- Add fresh and dried fruits next, placing them near items they pair well with, like cheese. Scatter nuts in small clusters around the board.
- Distribute pickles and olives around the board, preferably near the meats.
How To Make a Sweet Charcuterie Board
Ingredients You’ll Need!
1. Cookies & Cake
Gingerbread Cookies
Molasses and gingerbread spices combine in a classic cookie that tastes just like homemade! It’s a gift everyone will love.
- Perfect with coffee or hot chocolate
- Sure to bring back memories
- In our red tin
- 1 lb. 7 oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
(Riverside, CA)“I love gingerbread everything, and these did not disappoint! Perfect chewy texture, perfect amount of heat from the spices and the ginger itself, and all around perfect treat. Like a good molasses chew cookie but with a punch of spice, so so good.”
Blueberry Pecan Cookies
A treat that tastes homemade!
- Mounds of fresh-tasting blueberries and buttery pecans make these cookies gobble-icious.
- The chunky textures and shapes are the kind usually found in ceramic jars on mom’s kitchen shelf.
- 14 3/4 oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
(Jenks, Oklahoma)“I loved the cookies. Never had blueberries in a cookie. Very good. I recommend these cookies to everyone.”
Gluten Free Raspberry Linzer Cookies
The cool tart sweetness of raspberry jam fills these delicate buttery sugar cookies.
- They’re gluten free and oh so delectable!
- 1 lb. net wt.
Customer Review:
Ann (Puerto Rico)“We gave these cookies to our visitors with coffee or hot chocolate, and they loved it.”
12-Piece Celebration Cake Sampler
Perfect for any celebration, these two-bite-size layer cakes are a slightly upsized version of the classic Petits Fours The Swiss Colony has been making since 1961.
- Luscious layers of moist cake and creme filling richly coated in sweet confection
- Includes 3 pieces each of four scrumptious flavors: Vanilla, Lemon, Chocolate, Red Velvet
- 12 cakes; 9 1/4oz. net wt.
- Sampler lets you try before you choose a favorite flavor or buy our big 140-piece assortment!
2. Candy & Chocolate
Old-Fashioned Fudge Trio
Three mouth-watering fudge favorites fill our lavender stripe tin.
- Rich, melt-in-the-mouth favorites include Chocolate Pecan, Maple Walnut and Chocolate Fudge
“The fudge was delicious. It was a Valentines Day gift but he let me have a little sliver.”
Jelly Belly® Gift Box
Candy connoisseurs will appreciate a generous supply of the most famous jelly beans on earth!
- An assortment of everyone’s favorite twenty flavors in one beautiful gift box
- A can’t-miss gift!
- 1 lb. net wt.
Customer Review:
(Hanford, CA)“I made sure I took some of each favor for myself before sharing, and it’s a good thing I did!”
Buttermints
Just as you remember them from years ago, these sweet little pillows of buttery, minty deliciousness start with a crunch, and melt away in your mouth!
- A nostalgic treat for candy lovers
- In our classic red gift tin
- 1 lb. 1 1/2-oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
“Second time I’ve ordered these. They are so delicious! They melt in your mouth. Will definitely be ordering more!”
Spring Fruit Gel Slices
These colorful slices are brimming with a bounty of fruit flavor!
- Orange, lime, cherry, blueberry, watermelon, lemon, grapefruit and other fruit-flavored wedges.
- Individually wrapped.
- Tins may vary.
Customer Review:
“I almost ate the whole can, i haven’t even shared with my family… This candy is so good, keep up the good work Swiss!!!! I came here to order more.”
Saltwater Taffy
Plant a garden of sweet, gooey delights in someone’s day with our Saltwater Taffy Tin.
- They come in a bouquet of ten colors and flavors.
- Chocolate, Cinnamon, Pear, Mint with Red Stripe, Orange/Vanilla, Neapolitan, Licorice and more.
Customer Review:
Eric (Ohio)“I’ve been to the Jersey Shore, where they make this stuff fresh. This still tastes better and literally melts in your mouth! Love it.”
3. Pretzels & Popcorn
Patriotic Popcorn Tin
Nothing is more American than popcorn!
- Bags of kettle, cheese and caramel popcorn
- Each can be enjoyed separately or combined to make a fun mix
- Tin may vary
- 1 lb. 11 oz. net wt.
Customer Review:
“The popcorn was so fresh!!!”
How To Arrange Your Sweet Charcuterie Board
- Choose a large wooden cutting board, marble slab, or a festive platter.
- Place small bowls on the board for dips and spreads (Nutella, caramel sauce, whipped cream, fruit jam).
- Arrange cookies and brownie bites around the bowls, creating small clusters.
- Add fresh fruits next, placing them evenly around the board. Keep grapes on the vine for visual appeal.
- Scatter dried fruits in the gaps.
- Place chocolate pieces, cookies, and other candies around the board.
- Add pretzels and popcorn to fill any remaining spaces.
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