Last week, while at Bald Head Island, I found this amazing antique board at a local shop. I could not get it off my mind so I went back and purchased it! I love to find something unusual and beautiful that makes a good base for many different displays.

Food shopping choices are somewhat limited at Bald Head and quite honestly, I created this board for the heck of it because it was just me so I didn’t want to go and buy too much! I just wanted to see what it would look like to make a Summer Charcuterie Board with what I had. This board could be so much fuller and feed a crowd because it’s so large. I can see it as a breakfast board with bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon and more. I can also see this board used over the holidays with a smoked turkey or ham and biscuits with mustard…the possibilities are endless.

In the summer, when it’s hot and humid, it’s best to use medium to high moisture cheeses such as Gruyere, feta, fresh mozzarella because they do better in the heat. Hard and aged cheeses (like the Parmesan I’ve used here) tend to sweat. So if you’re making this board to serve outdoors, choose your cheeses accordingly.

I love to use fresh herbs, but I didn’t have any at the house so I opted for sweet piquant peppers, pickled asparagus, cucumbers, feta stuffed olives and 2 kinds of fig preserves for color and unexpected flavors. Pickled veggies and dried fruits are great to have on hand and make throwing a board together really easy. You can’t imagine how good these piquant peppers are with the goat cheese and a cracker while the parmesan and blue pair so well with the fig preserves.

If you do have fresh herbs or edible flowers, go wild with them because they smell good and make your board more beautiful.

When it comes to deciding what to sip…choose a wine with similar flavor notes to your board components. However, if in doubt, bubbly always works and most people love a glass of Champagne or Prosecco!

I also love to collect small containers such as the glass ones used for the fig preserves. This gives your board personality and gives you the ability to make it look different every time.

Usually I love to pile my assortment of cheeses, crackers, nuts and other goodies high and I don’t leave much of the board showing, but this board is so large and I didn’t have enough to fill it. I actually think it’s really pretty this way because the wood this board is made (I think pine) of is so beautiful.

Happy New Week…lets make it a good one! Thanks so much for reading today!