Happy Tuesday!
It’s 2022 so chances are you’ve heard of a charcuterie board. If not, brace yourself for the best thing ever. It’s so simple to put together, yet manages to impress people left and right.
Basically, a charcuterie board is a display of cured meats & cheeses and anything that pairs well with them (dried fruits, nuts, chocolate etc.) You can serve them on their own or pair them with other hors d’oeuvres (vegetable platters are always a nice compliment).
In San Francisco we lived above a Whole Foods (which was a literal dream) and I used to be able to run downstairs and grab everything I needed to throw a board together–it was awesome…but expensive. I was super excited to discover that Trader Joe’s has the best charcuterie board essentials, maybe even better than Whole Foods, and for a much more reasonable price!
Today’s post is super simple. I’m walking you through how I put together my charcuterie boards using all items found at Trader Joe’s 😉 If you want to skip to my video tutorial click HERE
There’s no wrong way to put a charcuterie board together. I’ve seen so many different ideas on Pinterest and Instagram, really anything goes. For me, I like my boards to have meats, cheese, crackers, fruit & nuts, and something chocolatey or sweet!
Here are a few of my recent charcuterie boards!
MEAT & CHEESE
I use a variety of meats and cheeses. Typically I aim for 2-3 types of cured meats (prosciutto, salami, & capocollo are my go-to’s and TJ’s has them conveniently packaged together) and 3-5 different types of cheeses depending on the number of people. For this board I used blue cheese, double cream brie, a creamy Toscana soaked in Syrah, and a honey goat (not pictured). When you’re assembling your board it’s nice to slice or crumble some of the cheeses to make it easier to eat!
Ialways start out my board by placing the bulkiest items (cheeses and meats) and then fill in the rest of the space with the remaining goodies.
These salami flowers are SO easy, you can watch how I make them HERE
CRACKERS/ FRUIT & NUTS/ CHOCOLATE & SWEETS
Trader Joe’s has the best crackers and extras for boards. My favorite crackers are the Fig & Olive crisps (the raisin rosemary crisps are awesome too, but I think they’re seasonal). I get a bunch of fresh fruit (oranges, pears, apples, are great options) and dried fruit as well (figs, apricots & dates are my go-tos). TJ’s almost always has some sort of candied fruit over the by nuts– on this board I did chili-spiced pineapple rings but I’ve used the candied orange slices in the past that you can see pictured at the top of this post! They’re delicious and make the spread look super beautiful. I also added mini peanut butter cups and yogurt covered pretzels here for extra sweetness.
I fan out the crackers and make little mounds of the fruit, nuts and sweets!
Adding a little bowl of jam or honey is always a nice touch too 😉 If you want to go the extra mile you can add some fresh sprigs of rosemary throughout for garnish–they look beautiful and smell amazing!
Watch How I Make My Charcuterie Board
Watch How I Make Salami Flowers
Charcuterie boards are ALWAYS a hit and ALWAYS get devoured.
Let me know if you try out a TJ’s Charcuterie Board!!
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Thanks for stopping by Clyde’s Corner!
XOXO Hayley
Clyde's Corner 