Whether you're hosting a casual get-together or a more formal event, a beautifully curated cheeseboard can set the tone and impress your guests. But what exactly should go on a cheeseboard to make it both visually stunning and delicious?

We find these 5 steps are key to elevating your board when hosting! Whether you're a cheese connoisseur or a newbie, you'll find something here to inspire your next gathering and take your platter to the next level.

1.) Condiment

You go to all the effort of buying supplies, hosting friends round and when popping out your cheeseboard you forget a chutney or spread to cut through all that dairy! A condiment is always a great idea to complement a cheeseboard to balance all out the richness of the cheese. It can often be overlooked as they typically aren’t found in the fresh produce section of the shops - you might tend to nip in and buy all your cheese, charcuterie and antipasti in the one place. Be sure to order straight to your front door a chutney and chilli jam from Crunch so that you don't forget again!

If you don’t have time to get a condiment you may have items like honey or mustard in your house that would also work perfectly!

2.) Fresh Fruit

Hear me out, I get it - fruit can be expensive and often seen as pointless on a cheeseboard as it’s viewed as 'too healthy'. But fruit not only elevates the colour and textures on your cheeseboard, they offer a freshness and palette cleanser for your guests. You don’t need to go over the top with lots of fruit but something easy like grapes or strawberries offer a refreshing 

breather from heavier items on a cheeseboard, as well as pairing and enhancing cheeses! To be even more extra try freezing your grapes and this will get your guests amazed and one you must try!

3.) Crunchy Items

Cheeseboards often tend to have lots of soft textures, from the cheeses melting in your mouth, to soft charcuterie. We love adding a ‘crunch’ item into your board to break up those soft textures. Items such as nuts, crunchy corn (if you’re allergic to nuts), seeds, rice crackers etc.

It helps expand your platter and diversity for your guests as they explore different combinations and consistencies! Make sure to add these crunchy items on top of your board last or in a ramekin so that you don’t end up with any soggy items.

4.) Garnishes

Similar to your fruit, it can seem unnecessary and expensive to buy garnishes simply for aesthetic reasons. But garnishes don’t have to be expensive or single use only. Using things such as herbs (e.g. rosemary or thyme) can make your board rich, decorative, fragrant and can be reused for cooking. One of my favourite ways to reuse herbs is for cocktail garnishes! 

Garnishes can come in the form of herbs, edible flowers, vegetables (we love celery ends) and citrus fruits. Edible flowers are our favourite and can often be

 grown yourself if you have an outdoor space. Flowers like cornflowers, violas/pansies and nasturtiums are super easy to grow! If you don’t fancy your hand at growing them yourself typically farmers markets may have them. They add lots of colour, elegance and visual appeal to your board creating more interest! As they say people feast with their eyes.

5.) Something Pickled!

One thing that I feel is often forgotten from cheeseboards is something pickled! The pickled, tangy taste of items like pickled peppers, cornichons or silver skin onions go perfectly with creamy/rich cheese. They are a great supplement to have for any vegetarians you may be catering for to give them more options to pair their cheeses with. Picked items can also help cut through rich fattiness of salami’s, meats or pates! They overall add balance and colour to your board as well as texture/refreshment!

Does this all sound too much? Get in touch with us and we will take care of the rest.