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Sweet and Salty Cheese Board

Lindsay Moe

This sweet and salty cheese board is sponsored by Emerald® Nuts. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

a cheese board full of sweet and salty snacks

You need a sweet and salty cheese board in your life, and here’s why.

It has everything you could ever want in a snack:

Four kinds of cheese
Popcorn
Emerald® Glazed Walnuts
Emerald® Glazed Pecans
Chocolates
Crackers
Fruit
Olives
Pretzels
Jam

a bowl of mixed olives on a cheese board with fruit and jam

You probably already know that sugar and salt are a match made in heaven. I hardly ever make a dessert without adding a bit of salt to the top.

A sweet and salty cheese board covers all the cravings. It was inspired by these Emerald glazed nuts which are both sweet AND salty!

an open bag of Emerald glazed nuts next to popcorn, bread, and a cheese board

These aren’t your ordinary nuts; they’re sweet, crunchy, gluten-free, and pretty exciting to come across in a snack spread like this. I used both the Glazed Walnuts and Glazed Pecans for an even more flavorful combination.

a bag of glazed walnuts next to a sweet and salty cheese board

Serve your cheese board at a family gathering, holiday, or as a fun picnic lunch for family or friends. You can mix and match ingredients you have on hand, but here are a few basic rules to follow for the perfect cheese board.

When choosing cheese for a cheese board, I recommend choosing one aged cheese such as cheddar, one soft cheese such as goat cheese or brie, one strong cheese like blue or gorgonzola, and maybe one or two wild card cheeses that just look delicious! I went with locally made cheese, which is one of the many benefits of living in Wisconsin.

blue cheese at the center of a cheese board surrounded by nuts, chocolate, jam, and olives

For the sweet side of the board, I love a combination of glazed walnuts and pecans, fresh and dried fruit, and good quality chocolate and jam. Most of these can be scattered around the cheeses to catch the eye when someone’s going in for a slice.

Finally, my salty choices for this cheese board included popcorn, pretzels, crackers, olives, and of course those delicious glazed walnuts and pecans! Most of these can be scattered around as well.

a hand grabbing a glazed nut from a sweet and salty cheese board

You’ll definitely want to choose a large board for all this food, or you could do several smaller boards. For example, you could have a bread basket with baguette slices and a variety of crackers; then a board for your cheeses and fruits; and another board and/or bowls for things like popcorn, pretzels, glazed nuts, jam, and olives.

a bag of glazed pecans on a cheese board

This is easily the tastiest cheese board I’ve made to date, and I will definitely be pulling this out for entertaining and picnics all summer long. Is there anything you would add to this board? Let me know in the comments!