Create the Ultimate Cheese Board

It’s spring time! I figured it’s a good time for us to talk about building a cheese board. So not really a recipe per se but a state of mind? An opinion? Oh yeah, lots of cheese opinions.

The first step in building a cheese board is picking the cheese! I say it should go like this:

Cheese selection: Firm cheeses (I went with two different types of English cheddar), soft cheese (I went with camembert), a crowd pleaser (I went with manchego) and something tart (I went with a goat’s cheese). Of course, if you like, you can throw in a blue cheese or a stinky cheese like tallegio.

Dried Fruit: I always like to include dried fruit on my cheese boards. And since it’s spring and apricot season, I went with dried apricots.

Nuts: I chose chopped walnuts because I love them so very much. Other lovely options would be pistachios, regular pecans or candied pecans.

Carbohydrate: I went with mini toasts. I’m also a big advocate for butter crackers, a good loaf of bread and/or water crackers.

Fresh Fruit: I think fresh fruit is a must on cheese boards. Fresh fruit and cheese are a match made in heaven. For this board I went with fresh raspberries and kumquats.

Briny: I went with Castelvetrano olives this time around and artichoke hearts. Cornichons, sweety drop peppers and peppadews are also all great options.

Other additions: I love adding some form of jam like apricot or fig. Honeycomb is also a nice touch.

I love following these guidelines for all sorts of cheese boards, regardless of the season! Enjoy. Happy Spring!

Adrianna Adarme is a food blogger and author living in Los Angeles, California. She writes the blog A Cozy Kitchen, where she shares comforting, everyday recipes from her kitchen. She recently authored her first cookbook, PANCAKES: 72 Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Perfect Stack. She's a lover of breakfast, pie (and sometimes even pie for breakfast), corgis and cute things. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.