{
  "id": 429995,
  "title": "I make charcuterie boards for a living. Here are my 7 secrets to creating the best spread.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/10/i-make-charcuterie-boards-for-a-living-here-are-my-7-secrets-to",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-10T02:18:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-best-cheese-board-charcuterie-tips-from-professional-2026-8"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "After spending four years in the charcuterie industry, I've developed seven secrets to creating the best charcuterie board. Amaan Bhanji, a franchise owner of a custom charcuterie-board company, has discovered what sets a good cheese spread apart from a great one.\n\nSelecting ingredients is paramount, and I focus on vibrant colors, diverse flavors, and an appealing arrangement. The board should include cured meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, breads, crackers, and nuts. A mix of spicy, salty, simple, and salty meats, along with a range of soft, hard, and aged cheeses, ensures a variety of textures and flavors.\n\nFor a visually stunning presentation, I prefer cutting meats into paper-thin circles, allowing them to be folded into shapes for added texture and visual interest. Prosciutto, in particular, can be folded into a train effect for added drama.\n\nCheeses should be cut into cubes, triangles, or circles depending on their consistency. For fruits and vegetables, I cut oranges and kiwis into stars, carrots into sticks, and cucumbers into circles or ribbons. When arranging the board, I place colorful fruits beside neutral elements to make the colors pop.\n\nCharcuterie is about both taste and visual appeal, so I group foods by color, such as strawberries, red peppers, dried cranberries, or chocolate and nuts. Lastly, I vary the height of each item on the board to provide depth, keeping the elements from being at the same level.",
  "summary": "I own a charcuterie franchise, and I've found that thinly slicing meats, cutting fruit into stars, and layering by height upgrades any cheese board.",
  "key_points": [
    "Focus on vibrant colors, diverse flavors, and appealing arrangement",
    "Include cured meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, breads, crackers, nuts",
    "Cut meats into paper-thin circles for texture and visual interest"
  ],
  "editors_take": "A professional charcuterie board creator's emphasis on balancing flavors, textures, and visual appeal sets a high standard for crafting an engaging and satisfying spread for guests.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}