Fall Cheese Board

A seasonal cheese board is always a good idea! I love a good meat and cheese board, especially if it's well composed with thoughtful elements and pairings like this Fall Cheese Board.

I'll show you how to create the perfect cheese board to celebrate fall!

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What is a cheese board?

It seems pretty self explanatory, but "cheese board" can mean much more than just cheese on a board. A cheese board can be as simple as a couple of your favorite cheeses, or a more extravagant board including cheese, meat and various condiment and snack pairings.

This cheese board is definitely leaning more towards the latter!

Cheeses

Choosing cheeses with different textures and flavors is important for any cheese board, but I also wanted to make sure the cheeses made sense for the season. Heartier cheeses with earthy or smoky flavors. Cheeses with warmth and sweet notes. Cheeses that pair well with seasonal fruit. You get the idea- crisp weather, cozy cheeses!

Aged Gouda: Gouda was one of the first cheeses I thought of when planning this fall cheese board. An aged gouda's caramel notes are perfect paired with crisp apples.

Blue: I wanted to include a blue cheese because their salty, funkiness goes so well with seasonal fruit like figs, pears and apples and with dried fruit like apricots. I used roquefort, but you could go with gorgonzola, blue stilton or creamier choices like Cambozola and St. Agur.

Port Salut: This is a semi soft cow's milk cheese from France. I included this cheese because it pairs with just about anything and I couldn't think of a reason not to include it.

Smoked Cheddar: Anything smoked just reminds me of fall! If you're not into smoky cheeses, a sharp cheddar will be just as good.

Meats

For this board, I wanted to include some classic charcuterie options along with some more unexpected and heartier choices to go with the season. Varying tastes and texture is just as important for your meat choices as it is for cheese.

Prosciutto: A classic that everyone loves! Prosciutto is delicious on its own or paired with blue cheese and figs.

Pate: I LOVE pate. I know it's not everyone's favorite, but I think if more people tried it, they'd like it. I went with a coarser ground mushroom and pork pate for this board which felt like a great seasonal choice. A country pate is another good option, but any pate will work!

Salami: A dry cured hard salami is always a great choice for your meat and cheese board. The hard salami will bring a new texture to the board as well as delicious flavor.

Accoutrements

The unsung heroes of the board! These add-ons can really enhance the flavors of meat and cheese. There are tried and true pairings, or you can have fun trying new flavor combinations. Try to include something crunchy, something sweet, something salty and something with some acidity. And of course, carbs!

Fresh fruit: Apples, pears, grapes, fresh figs and persimmons are all great choices this time of year.

Dried fruit: I always love including some dried fruit on cheese board! Dried apricots are my favorite but i also love dried cherries.

Nuts: Walnuts are a great seasonal choice and marcona almonds are always welcome!

Jams, jellies, preserves: Fig jam (I love this chili fig spread) is delicious with just about any cheese! Apple butter is a fun seasonal choice. This caramelized onion jam is so good and cozy for fall.

Mustard: Grain mustard is often served with pate, so I like to include it if I have pate on the board, but it's also a great pairing for many cheeses! Choose coarse or whole grain mustard for the best texture.

Pickled/Jarred: Cornichons are a MUST if there's pate on the board. I like to cut them into thin slices for topping the pate, but you can leave them whole. Other choices from this category would be pickled peppers, olives or any jarred veggie that brings some salt and acid to the board.

Bread and Crackers: I want bread on all of my cheese boards. Nothing really beats a warm, crusty baguette- especially if there's pate on the board! That being said, I do always include crackers as well and there are a lot of fun cracker options. These La Panzanella rosemary crackers are some of my favorites!

Tips and Tricks

Time it out. When building your board, make sure to think of which ingredients can stand to be left out longer and start with those. Most cheeses benefit from being brought closer to room temperature so they can be put on the board first.

You want to wait until the last minute to put things like sliced apples and pears on the board so that they don't brown. I like to warm the bread in the oven right before serving because who doesn't love warm bread?

On the board or in a bowl? Most elements of a cheese board can go directly on the board, but some are best kept in small bowls. Things like jams and mustards are best in bowls so that they don't run. Anything spicy like hot pickled peppers should be in bowls in case your guests don't like spicy flavors.

Make it approachable. To make it easier for your guests to know where to start, slice some of the cheese and put flavors that pair well together next to each other. For example, you can put the walnuts and fig jam near the blue cheese and the cornichons and mustard near the pate.

Fill it in. When you see areas of the board getting a bit sparse, fill it in! This certainly doesn't mean you have to have a back up of every ingredient, but having some extra prosciutto, pickles and nuts on hand is a good idea.

Utensils! You don't want to put your guests in an awkward position where they have to ask for a cheese knife or worse- use one cheese knife and mix everything together (gasp!). Make sure there are the appropriate amount of cheese knives so that serving is easy.

Small Plates and Napkins. Cute cocktail napkins are a no brainer, but do you really need plates? In some cases, like smaller groups or more casual settings, people might be able to just eat off the board, but if there are a lot of people, putting small appetizer plates out so that everyone isn't crowding around the board is helpful.

Decorate it. The seasonal food choices are what makes this a "fall" board, but a few decorations can't hurt! I love adding a couple mini pumpkins to the board for decoration.

Cheese boards are easy to customize to your tastes and to scale up or down depending on how many guests you have. You can replicate this fall cheese board exactly as shown, or use it as inspiration!

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