The team at Garner and Graze, hosts of The Art of Grazing workshop at the London Christmas Party Show, have shared their expert advice on creating the perfect grazing board. These boards work year-round, whether it’s picky bits in the garden or you’re hosting a Christmas party.
Garner and Graze was founded by Flo in 2019 in her home studio and has since expanded to a dedicated space in East London. As a brand, they’re all about supporting local artisans and sourcing ingredients as seasonally and locally as possible. They cater for all kinds of events, from private celebrations to corporate gatherings and brand activations.
How to build your own DIY grazing platter…
We think that the most beautiful grazing boards contain lots of different colours, so make sure to pick a variety of colourful ingredients and taste the rainbow! Bonus – different coloured foods contain different vitamins so the most vibrant spread is also the healthiest!
Five Elements of Grazing…
A perfectly balanced board contains a little from each of the main tastes. Combining complementary flavours from each group on your plate is where the magic really happens. Below is a cheat sheet for you to pick from, make sure you have something from each group.
Fat
Cheese, butter, cashews, burrata, brie, blue cheese
Salt
Crackers, anchovies, salted nuts, crisps, roasted pistachios
Acid
Capers, cornichons, raw tomatoes, citrus
Umami
Anchovies, marmite, cheddar, Comté, olives, Parmesan, cured meat
Sweet
Fresh & dried fruit: think grapes, apples, berries, melons, peaches – anything that’s in season! Raisins, dried apricots, chocolate, honeycomb
Building your Grazing Board…
Just like the classic base, modifier and accent theory of cocktail making, creating the perfect grazing board follows a similar 3 step process.
- Start with bigger items, building the foundations with wedges of cheese and lengths of crackers.
- Fill in the gaps with the bulk of the board. This is where your complementary ingredients shine; fruits, nuts, charcuterie, olives, anything your heart desires! Take your time and enjoy the process, this is where the grazing flow happens.
- Level up your grazing board. By now you’ve got a great looking board but to really take it that extra step, add in some highlights like edible flowers and honeycomb to bring everything together and make it shine!
Enjoy!
Hopefully you’ve loved the process, take some time to revel in the glory of your beautiful board and when you’re ready, it’s time to destroy all of your hard work! It’s tough to take that first bite out of a fresh board, but sometimes we need to do the hard things in life. Make sure you get a good variety on your plate and savour all of the different flavour combinations. Best enjoyed with friends and a glass of something tasty.
If you’d like to be guided through the entire process by an expert who can teach you all the tips and tricks to create the most beautiful board, come along and join our founder and chief grazing stylist, Flo at our workshop on Wednesday 9th July; The Art of Grazing.
You can secure your complimentary ticket to this year’s Show here: www.londonchristmaspartyshow.com/register/
