When you're planning a charcuterie board shopping list, the possibilities are endless. The grocery aisles are loaded with overwhelming varieties of charcuterie meat, cheeses, nuts, jams, and spreads. The sheer number of choices can cause even seasoned party planners to get that deer-in-the-headlights look as they stare down a never-ending cooler case of meat and cheese.
Here's a tip: just write "Wisconsin Cheese" at the top of your charcuterie board shopping list. After all, it's cheese that makes the best charcuterie boards really shine, and it's Wisconsin Cheese that will make your cheese selection seem an act of genius. When you add a Wisconsin aged cheddar, burrata, gouda, or gorgonzola to your charcuterie board shopping list, you've just made your trip to the grocery infinitely easier – and your charcuterie board infinitely tastier.
For more inspiration for your charcuterie board shopping list, take a spin through our website – we're happy to introduce you to some amazing cheese. Search our recipe index for more charcuterie board ideas. Or scroll down for our recommendations for the perfect charcuterie board shopping list.
A great charcuterie platter provides a smorgasbord of taste and texture, allowing guests to sample remarkable flavor combinations. Here's a charcuterie board shopping list for a charcuterie tray with an incredible array of sensations for your taste buds.
Choose one or two types of cheese from each category.
Choose one or more from each category.
The best meat and cheese trays balance a variety of textures and tastes. That means your charcuterie board shopping list should include various meats, including cured sausages like salami, forcemeats like pate, and whole-muscle cuts like prosciutto. For cheese, you'll want an array of textures from soft cheese to hard cheese, plus a blue cheese like gorgonzola. You'll also want to add ingredients for complementary flavors and textures – olives, nuts, crackers and bread, fruit and dried fruit, mustard, and jams, spreads, and dips.
You can build a small charcuterie board several hours ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator, wrapped in cellophane. You'll want to set it out at least 30 minutes before guests arrive to allow the cheese to come to room temperature. For larger boards, when your beautiful and delicate arrangement might be jeopardized by moving it, you can start to build your charcuterie board in place 30 to 60 minutes ahead of time.
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In Wisconsin, life is simple. We're pretty much focused on one thing: making the world's best cheese. Or rather, making more than 600 flavors, varieties, and styles of the world's best cheese – more than any other state or country in the world. That simple, singular focus has earned us a boatload of awards – 5,552 to be exact, but who's counting? And it has earned us the distinction of making one-quarter of the cheese in the US and nearly half of all the specialty, artisan cheese in the country.
So, when it comes to creating your charcuterie board shopping list, you can really make things simple by sticking with Wisconsin cheese. Because when it says Proudly Wisconsin Cheese on the label, you know that the chunk of cheese in your hand is sure to be the star of your charcuterie board.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
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