Our “Build Your Own Cheeseboard” workshop was a HIT! We partnered with Community Kitchen ATL to learn all the things and walked away with the prettiest boards.

There are a lot of benefits to being able to put together a beautiful cheese/charcuterie board: you’re entertaining and need something for people to snack on, you’ve been invited to a party where you need to bring your own appetizer, you don’t feel like cooking and want something simple … the list goes on!

Below are seven tips for putting together a beautiful board you can be proud of:

1. Create small piles around the board so no matter what angle your guests are approaching from, they’ll have easy access to the good stuff!

2. Be sure to have a variety of ingredients: meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, crackers. Stick with fresh and seasonal items.

3. Meats like prosciutto, pepperoni, sopressata are all great to include on your board.

4. Include a mixture of hard, soft and “smelly” (like blue cheese!) cheeses for a good variety.

5. For a sweet component to your board, consider a fruit preserve or honey. It pairs great with cheese and acts as a delicious complement.

6. Always add a pickled element to your board!

7. Make sure to include some type of delivery device, whether that’s crackers, bread or bamboo skewer, to make it easy to snack away!