Storage and Safety for Cheese and Charcuterie: Ensuring Freshness and Flavor for your charcuterie board (2024)

FAQs

Storage and Safety for Cheese and Charcuterie: Ensuring Freshness and Flavor for your charcuterie board? ›

Refrigeration: Most cured meats should be kept in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This maintains freshness and prevents the growth of harmful bacteria. Vacuum Sealing: If you buy in bulk, consider vacuum sealing portions to maintain freshness and extend shelf life.

Use cool packs or ice packs strategically placed around the board to keep the meats and cheeses chilled. Alternatively, consider using chilled serving platters or boards to help maintain a lower temperature. Another important aspect is protecting the charcuterie from insects and airborne debris.

Creating Interest with the 3-3-3-3 Rule

Choose three cheeses, three meats, three starches, and three accompaniments for a perfect and balanced board, every time!

Cut produce and cheeses need to be refrigerated until served and should not be kept at room temperature for more than 2 hours total (one hour if the temperature is above 90 °F). Use clean serving utensils, spoons for dips, tongs, or toothpicks to keep guests from contaminating the entire board.

Harmful germs can grow in perishable foods, including meat and cut fruit, if they're left out for more than two hours. Pay attention to how long your charcuterie board has been sitting out. To avoid tossing the tidbits after two hours, consider making more than one board.

Fridges are moist spaces, especially if the doors are constantly being opened. To avoid fluctuations of humidity from hitting your precious block of cheese, store your wrapped cheese in a sealed container, preferably made of glass.

Cheese is usually sliced much thicker than meat, both by the store and by your guests, so you'll need a little more than the meat. So pick one cheese from each category, but don't sweat if you want fewer than four cheeses. Even if you only choose two, that just leaves more room for bread, grapes and other extras.

What items don t need to be refrigerated for charcuterie board? ›

For this travel friendly platter I like to choose meats that are easy to slice and that don't need refrigeration right away. Smoked or Cured meats tend to be my favorite go to's like Salami, Peperoni, Summer Sausage, or Chorizo.

Besides Wood Wax's eco-friendliness and vegan-friendly formulation of walnut oil, Wood Wax helps your charcuterie board stand the test of time by conferring excellent water resistance to the wood surface while protecting against knife marks, scratches and abrasions.

We suggest eating your board/box the day it is picked up or delivered for peak freshness. It is always freshest on the day it is created, but within 24-48-hours is acceptable. We do not recommend beyond 2 days. Please note that all charcuterie boards & creations are perishable and require refrigeration.

When it comes to fresh or softened cheeses, Wright says there are two ways to serve them. You can leave a ball of mozzarella or a log of goat cheese whole and let people go for it. However, if you are hosting a large gathering or co*cktail party, it may make more sense to serve your cheeses pre-sliced, she says.

Use a selection of 3-4 different cured meats for your charcuterie board. In the board pictured, I used a hard soppressata, bresaola, salami, and prosciutto. Use any variety you'd like and that works for you and your budget. If your budget permits you to splurge for Jamon Iberico or Prosciutto di Parma, go for it.

As a general rule, hard cheeses such as cheddar, processed cheeses (American), and both block and grated Parmesan do not require refrigeration for safety, but they will last longer if kept refrigerated.

"We strongly recommend cutting cheeses last minute," she says. "It's particularly true for the creamy cheeses, because if you cut them in advance they will fix together again." For hard cheeses, the same spiel, only they'll become dried out if you cut them too far in advance. Temperature plays a key role, too.

Firm/Semi Soft Cheeses: Place a hunk of cheese but also cut a few preemptive slices. That way it's an easy grab at the beginning, but as the board empties you will have more space to slice the rest. Soft Cheeses: Leave them whole, but take out a little piece to show everyone that it is up for grabs.

"Your best bet is to wrap it in a finely porous material, such as cheese paper, parchment paper, or breathable plastic wrap made especially for cheese." If that sounds pesky, what you can do is rewrap your cheese in the paper your cheesemonger used and then wrap that package up loosely in plastic—it'll stay breathable ...

Yes, Charcuterie boards can be prepared ahead of time. I would recommend waiting to slice any fruit until right before serving. Otherwise, the ingredients can be prepped and arranged up to 24 hours in advance. Just be sure to wrap it with cling wrap and store it in the refrigerator.