Some of the best discoveries are accidental ones. During a recent trip to The Fresh Market (which I talk about frequently here on the blog, since it’s where we are currently doing most of our food shopping) I just happened to decide to go down the beverage aisle where the sparkling lemonades caught my eye. I was immediately intrigued by the Elixia Sparkling Lemonade in Wild Fraise (Strawberry). Since we were going with a most pink and yellow theme for our cheese board, the rose colored Elixia French Lemonade fit in perfect and let me tell you it was absolute heaven from first sip.
The strawberry flavor was mild and unassuming, the bubbles enough to tickle your nose but not over powering. It was the perfect delicate beverage to enjoy with our cheeseboard which featured a selection of our favorite crackers, cheeses including a delightful baked brie that we popped in the oven as soon as we arrived home. (It takes at least 20-25 minutes to get a perfecty crispy crust.
For the cracker pairing (one of the things I’m usually in charge of, I went with the Lemon, Sea Salt Olive Oil and the Chive Olive Oil Crackers from The Fine Cheese Co (available at The Fresh Market in all it’s delicious flavor profiles). For the nuts I wanted something mild with the perfect amount of crunch. When you’re working with more flavorful cheeses, and meats, it’s a good idea to find a balance between ‘ingredients’ the pack a punch and ones that have more mild flavors.
This was our first cheese board featuring our new favorite blueberry, pink lemonade blueberries, and when we going through the check out the cashier asked how we liked them as she was thinking about trying them herself. I readily gave them our A++ seal of approval, and even shared a recommendation about freezing them in ice cubes (which I shared about recently here on the blog in the post, Glam Up Your Lemonade.)
Something worth noting, if you want to make creating a cheese board a little easier on yourself, buying pre-sliced wedges of cheese is always a good idea. While I was originally in search of goat gouda for our board, I changed my mind when I saw a trio of Spanish cheese which included a delicious Manchego, Chèvre and a three milk cheese featuring sheep, goat and cow’s milk.
What’s on our Cheese Board
Cheeses
Baked Brie (from The Fresh Market)
Manchego
Chèvre
Meats
Prosciutto
Salami
Crackers
Lemon, Salt & Olive Oil
Chive & Olive Oil
Fruit
Pink Lemonade Blueberries
Blackberries
Meyer Lemon
Nuts etc
Raw Cashews
Salted Macadamia Nuts
Honeycomb (Capital Bee Co)
Fresh Basil
Beautiful post on a lovely board!