Somewhere close to around the time I turned 30 I developed a love for a good meat and cheese platter at a party. It’s like I magically aged out of trashcan punch and Doritos and traded it for munster cubes and humus (#thisis30). Typically charcuterie boards exclusively display meats and cheeses but call me crazy, I feel as though the sky is the limit when it comes to a charcuterie board. Dress your boards for your next house party or holiday gathering. Here are some ideas perfect for a Memorial Day charcuterie board!
Color Is Everything
Picking a color scheme is a great idea when you are thinking about foods you want to include on your charcuterie board. This will give you a great starting point as you shop.
To incorporate red, white, and blue for my Memorial Day charcuterie board I first began by identifying redder colored meats. Salami and pepperoni were the perfect choice to bring in the red. Finding red fruits like cherries, strawberries, pomegranate seeds, and watermelon added great pops of red as well.
For white, the first thing I thought of was yogurt covered pretzels. As I browsed the cheese section of the store I went for lighter cheeses like munster, and mozzarella. Hummus was also a great choice as a light dip with round baked crackers. And for white meat, turkey is is always a great choice. Depending on if your crowd has nut allergies or not, nuts are a great add-on with charcuterie. I used cashews on mine which was great for my “white” color palette, but a great substitute if you want to steer clear of nuts would be yogurt covered raisins.
And for the blue, blueberries (obvi!), figs, and blue corn tortilla chips (to be dipped in red salsa).
Don’t Forget The Kids!
If I know that there are going to be kids, I always make sure I have a kid-friendly set up for them. Let’s face it, most kids don’t want to eat boujie cured meats and cheeses when they snack!
For the kid’s charcuterie board I included red, white, and blue star sprinkled mini cupcakes that I found at the grocery store. In keeping with the color theme I included watermelon cubes that are easy for kids to grab, vanilla wafers, white cheddar gold fish, and American cheese.
Charcuterie boards are so fun to create! The sky is the limit!
Need a good charcuterie board or two? Check out my picks!
