Charcuterie Board for Your Fall Get-Togethers

How to Create a Mouth-Watering Charcuterie Board for Your Fall Get-Togethers

Fall, the season when the golden hour is especially magical, and all you want to do is throw on your cable-knit sweater and stroll through the beautiful foliage. But fall is also when everyone is back from vacation and social commitments are in full swing. If you're hosting a get-together this fall, a seasonal charcuterie board is a sure and easy way to please all your guests. A good charcuterie board looks gorgeous and offers a smorgasbord of flavors for everyone to enjoy — no cooking required. It's the only hors d'oeuvre you need for a dinner party, and it’s the perfect elevated snack for your book club, game night, or other intimate gathering.

Below you'll find a video of how we put together our charcuterie board, and a list of everything we used, but don't feel you need to copy it exactly. The essential elements that make up a top-notch charcuterie board are not many, and their combination and presentation is quite easy to master. At minimum, you need a few cured meats (salami, prosciutto, coppa; in fact, the French word "charcuterie" refers just to this kind of meat), a few cheeses, bread or crackers, a sweet element (especially jam or fresh, or dried, fruits), and a sour/pickled element (cornichons, olives). The most important thing to remember when selecting for the elements of your charcuterie board is to always opt for quality.

Once you've selected items for each element, you then want to artfully arrange them on a large wooden board. Don't worry about fitting everything on the board, it's perfectly fine to serve your jam or extra crackers on the side. You can make it a fall charcuterie board by including seasonal ingredients or ones that evoke fall. In our board, we included a variety of seasonal ingredients, especially figs, grapes, pecans, and almonds.

You can also make it a fall charcuterie board by choosing fall themes for your tableware and table décor. A fall centerpiece or tablecloth makes the perfect backdrop to a large wooden board that's filled with a colorful variety of delectables, which itself evokes a plentiful harvest. Plates and napkins in fall themes and colors complete the rich autumn ambience.