A quintessential part of entertaining season is the famed grazing platter. Complete with delectable cheeses, shaved meats and quality, fresh produce, no wonder it’s a crowd pleaser. Below you’ll find our guide to creating the ultimate grazing platter this Summer that’ll have your guests in awe.
Quality produce
Quality really is everything and luckily ‘A Better Choice’ retailers stock the best quality produce. Whether it’s fruit and veg or deli items, you can generally find them all at your local retailer! When selecting your produce, the items you should always have on a grazing platter include; cheeses, meats, dips, crackers, bread, fruit, vegetables, and nuts.
Make it colourful
Colour is super important on a platter because it’s true… we eat with our eyes. Not only is a colourful platter a sight for sore eyes, but it also screams fresh! Try and pop as many colours of the rainbow on your platter as you can, e.g. red tomatoes, green celery, yellow cheese, orange carrot, purple beetroot dip… the list goes on!
Seasonality matters
Buying produce that is in season is essential for a great platter and it also makes buying ingredients more affordable. The freshness of the produce definitely makes or breaks a platter so always ensure you’re buying in season produce either on the day or the day before making your platter.
It’s all about placement
Always start by placing large items on the platter like cheeses, meats and dips. Then scatter your biscuits and vegetable sticks. Add in your fruit slices and items like sundried tomatoes and olives. Finally, fill in any remaining gaps with berries, nuts and seeds. Voila!
Now, time for some important do’s and don’ts:
DO: Allow cheeses to come to room temperature before serving them
DON’T: Serve only one type of cracker – spoil your guests with a selection of different biscuit options!
DO: Prepare what you can ahead of time, like chopping up all of the fruit and veg
DON’T: Buy pre-packaged meats – buy it fresh. Fresh is best!
Happy grazing!