Picnic Charcuterie Board

Celebrate the warmer weather with a charcuterie board that’s perfect for the outdoors. Gather your friends and family and enjoy the perfect little bites.

Why We Love Charcuterie Boards

Charcuterie boards or grazing boards are all the rage right now. They are versatile so you can put your own spring on them and use the ingredients of your choice. We like this board because it has salty, sweet, creamy, sweet, savory – everything you could ask for.

Ingredients

• Genoa Salami is always a good choice for a charcuterie board. It’s made from pork while hard salami is made from beef.
• Proscuitto is one of my favorite charcuterie ingredients and I especially like to wind thin slices around sesame breadsticks.
• Cheese – For this board, I use a combination of hard and soft cheeses. I use sliced manchego which is a sheep’s milk cheese from Spain. It has a firm buttery texture. One of my new favorites is the mini brie cheese wheels which come in individual servings. They are perfect for a small board like this one. And finally, I used Babybel which is a version of Edam cheese that is Dutch.
• Fruit – I always use a combination of fresh fruits and dried fruits. For this board, I used dried mandarin orange slices and fresh grapes and pineberries which are white (or pale pink) strawberries that have a strawberry pineapple taste.
• Bread and Crackers – I recommend using a combination of either a French baguette or a loaf of Italian bread and your favorite crackers.
• Pickles and Olives – I think these two items are a must for any charcuterie board. They add a salty briny flavor profile to the board.
• Something Sweet – Another necessity on any board is a small sweet treat. Mini chocolate-covered pretzels are always a favorite.

Let’s Make a Picnic Charcuterie Board Fancy

Instead of just slicing cheese and meats, take a few minutes to make your board a little fancy.

Salami Bow Ties

1. Slice one side of a large pitted green olive.
2. Fold the salmi accordion style.
3. Carefully split the olive along the slice, without tearing it in half, and wrap the olive around the salami.

BabyBel Flowers

1. Use a small cookie cutter and gently press it into the red wax on a piece of Babybel cheese.
2. Discard the cutout piece of wax.

Brie Cheese Cutouts

1. Place the baby brie into the freezer for 15 minutes.
2. Slice off the top of the rind.
3. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out a shape.
4. Return the top of the cut-off rind onto the larger piece and garnish the side with the cutout shape.