How Much Cheese To Serve Per Person On A Charcuterie Board, According To Martha Stewart

Charcuterie boards are one of the easiest ways to impress at a party. They require far less time and effort than cooking a full spread, but still manage to offer guests a rich variety of flavors. Plus, they're so pretty! The only thing that tends to trip people up? Figuring out how much cheese to put on there. Unlike, say, chicken wings or cucumber sandwiches, it's not exactly easy to count cheese. Thankfully, Martha Stewart has a rule of thumb she shared on a recent post on the Martha Stewart website: aim for 3 to 4 ounces of cheese (or 85 to 115 grams) per person. It's a fitting tip from someone who made her name in catering by building grand fruit and cheese boards that she called landscapes.

Once you've figured out the quantity, the next challenge is choosing the right mix of cheeses for the ultimate cheese board. Stewart suggests keeping things local and aiming for a variety — a mix of hard and soft cheeses. She also adds a word of caution for warmer weather: soft cheeses don't hold up well on hot days. 

In a segment on the "Today Show," she pointed out that if the forecast was pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it was best to skip elaborate outdoor cheese displays altogether. "In the summertime, especially, don't go for a lot of soft cheeses," she warned, while assembling a patriotic Fourth of July board with a wide assortment of berries and puff pastry sticks. "If it's a really hot day, it's not the time to have a cheese and fruit display."

Martha Stewart provided more tips on putting together the perfect cheese board, including how a little forethought goes a long way in making it guest-friendly. One smart move is to give each type of cheese its own knife. Even if you're a beginner in the world of artisanal cheeses, you probably know that you don't want blue cheese smeared onto your brie. Additionally, consider slicing some of the cheese up as it will save your guests the awkwardness of sawing through a wedge mid-party.

For the base, she suggests offering a mix of crackers or breadsticks, and suggests throwing in a gluten-free option like rice crackers into the mix. Not only is this a thoughtful touch, rice crackers also pair well with bold flavors like gouda, smoky gouda, goat's cheese, or pimento. To round things out, she recommends thinking about textures and flavors: a handful of nuts to add some much-needed crunch or briny bites like olives, pickles, or marinated artichokes to cut through the richness of the cheese. A touch of sweetness takes things up a notch, too; fig jam, guava paste, or even a bit of honeycomb doesn't just look good, but also pairs beautifully with sharp or creamy cheeses. Once assembled, you'll be wowing your guests in no time.