Americana Charcuterie Board

I’m celebrating Americana

This Fourth of July, I’m celebrating with a star quilt-inspired charcuterie board. It’s not about flags on everything ~ I’m drawn to a scrappier symbol of America: stray bits and pieces, each with its own story, coming together to make something strong, useful, and uniquely beautiful.

The idea

⭐ An Americana charcuterie board built around a star quilt design. It’s a beautiful nod to the Fourth of July, without the usual red, white, and blue.

⭐ It’s a showstopper you actually want to eat. There’s cheese, cured meats, crackers, olives, fruit, nuts, and easy bites made for grazing.

⭐ No special skills needed, just a big board. The star quilt design comes together piece by piece, one section at a time.

⭐ Easy to simplify. Build a single star square on a platter for a smaller version with the same Americana feel.

What you’ll need for an Americana charcuterie board

• A board surface
  • I used a marble board, 24×24 inches for this design.
  • A wooden cutting board like this one is perfect.
  • A single 24×24-inch porcelain or ceramic floor tile from a home improvement store makes a great base.
  • A melamine board will be lighter.
  • No board big enough? Line a clean tabletop with parchment or butcher paper and build the design there.
• 6″ square appetizer plates for the center squares
  • You can buy ceramic plates, or use disposables.
• Assorted little bowls to hold condiments like mustards, etc. will provide textural interest to your board.

The (easy!) math

Refer to the diagram below as you build each edible star quilt block.

How to build your star quilt charcuterie board

Start with your central square

• I use 6″ square plates.
  • Use this center square for dips, tapenades, spreads, Brie, or wet/oily ingredients like olives or pickles.
    • Homemade Boursin Cheese
    • Meyer Lemon Hummus
    • Muhammara (roasted red pepper & walnut dip)
    • Easy Whipped Feta Dip Recipe

Set the corner squares

• Arrange your corner squares next. They will be 3″ square.
  • Use stacks of crackers, or pretzel sticks.
  • Cheese cubes can also be used.

Place the wide triangles

• Place your wide triangles next.
  • Sliced cheeses work well here. Tip: cut 6″ square pieces, and then cut them in half diagonally to make the triangles.

Fill in the points of the quilt stars

• You want small-scale ingredients to fill in the triangle shapes. Contrast is key to making the star shapes pop in your Americana charcuterie board, so go bold with dark or light colors here.
  • raisins, dried cranberries, currants, cherries, etc.
  • smokehouse almonds, spiced pecans, pistachios etc.
  • I also use wasabi peas and a small scale snack mix.

My best tip

Contrast is key to making your Americana charcuterie board look like a quilt. Use a mix of colors, textures, and especially lights and darks so the star shape really stands out. Leave any questions in the comments below and I’ll get to them as soon as I can.

And be sure to snap an overhead photo with your phone before everybody digs in!

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Americana Charcuterie Board

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This Americana Charcuterie Board is a festive Fourth of July appetizer arranged like a classic star quilt, with simple sections for meats, cheeses, crackers, olives, fruit, and nuts. Make one block for a small platter or repeat the pattern for a crowd.

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Prep Time:30 minutes minutes

Cook Time:40 minutes minutes

Total Time:1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 15 -20

Equipment

• Large board or other food-safe surface at least 24"x24" inches or larger for this full 4 block design

Ingredients

 

crackers etc.

• small or mini crackers, assorted
• square crackers
• thin pretzel sticks
• snack mix

cheese

• firm cheeses that can be sliced and cut into triangles, squares, or cubes
• wheel of Brie
• small mozzarella balls, marinated
• goat cheese balls

meats

• sliced salami
• prosciutto
• pepperoni

olives and pickles

• small olives
• small pickles

fruit

• small grapes, blueberries, or currants
• raisins, dried cherries, dried currants, dried cranberries

nuts

• smoked almonds
• spiced pecans
• cashews
• cocktail peanuts
• pistachios

dips and condiments

• hummus
• mustard
• tapenade

miscellaneous

• wasabi peas
• corn nuts

Instructions

How to build a 12" square block

• Refer to the diagram and photos in the post for visual help. Place a 6-inch square plate or dish in the center of your board. Fill it with a dip, spread, tapenade, olives, pickles, or other moist or briny ingredients.
• Arrange the 3-inch corner squares next, using stacks of crackers, pretzel sticks, sliced cheese, or other sturdy ingredients.
• Fill in the wide triangle sections with sliced cheeses. I take 6" square slices of cheese and cut them in half diagonally to make the wide triangles.
• Use small ingredients to fill the remaining star points: use dried cranberries, raisins, currants, cherries, nuts, pistachios, wasabi peas, or snack mix. Keep each star point mostly light or mostly dark so the star shape reads clearly.
• Step back and check the contrast. The star shape shows best when you alternate light and dark ingredients, along with different textures and colors.
• Build one 12-inch block for a smaller board, or repeat the block for a larger board.

Notes

These ingredients are just suggestions, get creative with what you love.

Refer to the post for detailed instructions and photos.

NOTES ~ Click here to add your own private notes.

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: 4th of July, appetizer, charcuterie, cheese and crackers, cheese board, entertaining, Memorial Day, summer

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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