Your Meat and Cheese Board Needs a Glow-up

I would have resisted a new style of meat and cheese board in the past. Even one year ago, I was digging in my heels when my partner suggested I change the way I made my holiday appetizer spread. But after a year of taste tests, I’m finally ready. It’s time to reconsider the ways of the old meat and cheese board. You don’t have to give it all up, but this year swap out that second wheel of brie or the bowl of water crackers for a more daring and delicious option.

The ultimate veggie chips

While many vegetable chips in the grocery stores are fried, these bright and punchy veggies from Confetti Snacks are sliced thick and prepared without frying, but in a low heat cooking process that preserves their color and flavor. Each bag contains a mixture of carrots, whole okra, shiitake mushrooms, radishes, and purple sweet potato. Each veggie is as crunchy as the last, and you can buy them accented in three flavors: teriyaki BBQ, tandoori curry, and summer truffle. Once again, I love all the flavors so I recommend buying one of each. Made from upcycled veggies that are too unsightly to sell in grocery stores, you can feel good about reducing waste and putting these ugly beauties on your cheese board.

Try this product:

• Confetti Snacks veggie chips

Irresistible mushroom chips

Whole shiitake mushrooms are baked at a low heat so they gently dry out. This results in a snack so completely crunchy, it’s hard to believe it was once a squishy mushroom. You can buy a bagful of plain mushroom chips, but Confetti Snacks also offers versions dusted in seasonings: black truffle and green curry. You can’t make a wrong choice, I love them both. Serve these mushroom chips in a bowl between the sliced salami and Camembert. 

Try these products:

• Confetti Snacks mushroom chips

• DJ&A shiitake mushroom crisps

Wagyu shaved beef

There are a lot of high-quality sliced meats adorning cheese boards already. I was perfectly happy noshing away on black pepper salami and prosciutto di Parma when wagyu shaved beef rolled in and ruined everything for me. Now no meat spread will be complete without it. KC Cattle Company offers pre-sliced peppered wagyu that is flavorful, juicy, and impossibly tender. A half-pound of this beautiful charcuterie will run you $9.99 on their website, and after one bite, you’ll realize that’s a steal. Do yourself a favor and slice the slices in half or in quarters before you build the board. Hopefully then every guest will nab a piece before it’s gone.

Try this product:

• KC Cattle Company Wagyu shaved beef

Hickory smoked cheese sticks

Wheels and large wedges of cheese are tempting to put on a cheese board because of their easy preparation. You just drop them on the board and let the guests hack them apart. While that will never lose its allure, consider the smoked cheese stick as an option. It has the same ease for the host—unpackage and place—but with the added benefit of tidiness and ease for the guest. The sticks are already individual, there’s no need for knives or toothpicks, and no smears and gooey bits left behind. I like smoked cheese sticks because they're an upgrade to the kind most people are used to.

Try these products:

• Wisconsin Cheese smoked string cheese sticks 

• Cheese Bits smoked cheese sticks

Flavored edamame crunchies

Freshly steamed edamame is delicious, but dry roasted edamame is stellar. I’m a fan of the crunchy gems from The Only Bean. They're absolutely irresistible; and luckily, with their low net carb count and sizable protein content, resisting isn't necessary. The Only Bean offers their roasted edamame in three flavors: buffalo, ranch, and sriracha. It was hard for me to choose a favorite but I think I ate the buffalo just a tad faster than the other two. A four-ounce bag might not seem like a lot, but edamame weighs nearly nothing so each bag lasts a while. Serve a bowl full of these to replace nuts on your board, or nestled amongst the hard, aged cheeses.

Try these products:

• The Only Bean dry roasted edamame variety pack

• Seapoint Farms dry roasted edamame

Parmesan crisps 

You might have noticed I’m leaning toward texture this year. Can you blame me? With so many soft components on the average cheese board—cheeses, fruits, meats, breads—I wind up longing for something crunchy to wake up my senses. Crackers deliver crunch, but what if your crackers were also cheese? Parmesan cheese crisps are just the thing. Cheese is simply cooked until it becomes crunchy just like a cracker. This leap-frogs the need for a wheat cracker, and streamlines your meat and cheese snack. You can make your own parmesan crisps, or you can buy them premade and ready to chomp.

Try these products:

• Whisps Cheddar Cheese Crisps

• ParmCrisps Four Cheese Crisps

• Simple Truth Keto Cheese Crisps