Welcome to summer! If you are anything like me, summertime means an influx of visitors and parties. Fortunately, you will now have the perfect cheese board to wow your guests or hostesses. However, this is not your typical charcuterie, but the viral cheese canvas — a unique, edible work of art that you can create even if you’ve never painted in your life. This fun appetizer will be an instant hit, and your friends will be snapping pictures of this centerpiece that looks almost too good to eat.
You only need a few ingredients, and, as you will see, this cheese and crackers board can be adapted to different themes. First, take a thin, clean, new painting canvas (also called a canvas board) and cover it with cling wrap. You may want to tape the back to secure the wrap if it is not adhering well. Your work of art will look more interesting if the cheeses are different in color or appearance. For my boards, I used goat cheese at the top, red pepper hummus in the middle, and Boursin cheese at the bottom. Let your budget and your creativity guide you, but choose cheeses that are soft and easy to spread. You could limit it to two different cheeses and alternate them. You will also need crackers that are a bit firm, so that they don’t crumble when your guests scoop the cheese off the board. Pita chips and pretzel crackers are good options. You will also need a small plate stand, which can often be found at dollar stores.
Once you have assembled all your ingredients and wrapped your board, you simply apply the cheese in three different rows on the board. Starting at the top of the board with the small end at the top (portrait style), add your first row of cheese, using about ⅓ of the board. You will want to push the cheese firmly into the board to make sure it sticks. Use the back of a teaspoon to make smooth indentations along the row. Next, add your second row of cheese, overlapping it with the bottom of the first row. Since I wanted contrast with the other cheeses, I used red pepper hummus, which was colorful and spread beautifully. Then, add your bottom layer and, after using the back of the spoon, smooth around the edges of the board.
Now comes the fun, creative part. You can use edible herbs and flowers from your garden to make your work of art. But of course, you can also simply purchase herbs and fruit from the market for this project. For my boards, I used lemon thyme that was starting to flower, parsley, little purple violets, honeysuckle flowers, and the blue star flowers from my borage plant. You could also use rosemary, cilantro, halved grapes, tomatoes, or strawberries. Now that I have made this a couple of times, my head is full of fun new ideas to try. While my board was on the savory side, I can also envision a sweet board. You could use mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, and different flavors of jam. These could be served with fruit, graham crackers, or cinnamon pita chips. Another cute idea would be to make a board for a baby shower or a child’s birthday party. You could whiz up some cream cheese with blueberries and layer white and blue cream cheese to make a little ocean scene. Then add parsley or cilantro as your “seaweed” and press goldfish crackers into the bottom of the board. You could also add strawberries to cream cheese and make a patriotic red, white, and blue board. The possibilities are endless. You are going to have fun with this one, and I cannot wait to see what our readers come up with. Send pictures of your creations to: shorelocalgardener@gmail.com.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
