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This week is a SUPER time to up your charcuterie game.

Do you like cheese? Do you like meats? One of my favorite party dishes, charcuterie boards, bring all of this and a bit more! Charcuterie itself is defined as cooked, cold meats, but charcuterie boards are a great and easy way to make all your friends think you’re an actual adult while chowing down on deliciousness. Now, if you don’t like or eat meat, no worries! As you’ll see there are plenty of other parts of this ensemble for you to enjoy, sans meat.

1. The Meats

It’s in the name, so obviously the first step to a good charcuterie board is the meat. There aren’t any bad choices really, you can mix and match any meat with any of the other parts of the board to find the perfect medley. You’ll want any kind of cold, cooked meat, the sky is really the limit. And don’t be afraid to experiment a little, try something new! Here are a few options:

• Salami
• Prosciutto
• Pepperoni
• Sliced Ham
• Summer Sausage

2. The Cheeses

Cheese is one of my favorite food categories in life, so feel free to go wild like I do here. For the cheeses on your charcuterie board, you want a variety of hard and soft cheeses, so that people can have options as they mix and match cheeses with various meats or other items. Here are some ideas, but there are no wrong choices:

• Gouda
• Cheddar
• Parmesan
• Brie
• Chevre

3. Bread and Crackers

You gotta give the people something to carry the fantastic combinations of meat and cheese to their mouth, right? Keep it simple here, just get some basic crackers and slice some artisan bread, like a baguette, and you’re doing great.

4. Spreads & Fruits

You don’t need to include these last two components, but they’re easy and can elevate your board a couple notches. A mix of fresh and dried fruits, like grapes, dried mangos, sliced pears add a bit of brightness to the layout. And including a few choices of spreads gives a little more variety to some of the meat and cheese combos you can put together. You could include a goat cheese spread, a cheese ball or a few types of jelly, like a pepper jelly.

Charcuterie boards are an awesome plate to bring to a party because if you lay out the options right, there are an endless number of ways to combine what’s on your board! Plus, it gives you a chance to try some new foods you might not have an excuse to eat anywhere else.