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Maria Noyen
- Emmy Rener says fall and winter are some of the most popular seasons for charcuterie boards.
- To create a sophisticated spread, Rener – a charcuterie artist – recommends one simple rule.
- Rener founded her charcuterie business in high school and now makes six figures in sales annually.
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Fall is upon us and that means it's officially the start of charcuterie season, according to an industry expert.
Emmy Rener, 22, founded Sophisticated Spreads – her professional charcuterie business – before starting college in 2020. Now in her junior year at the University of Southern California, Rener is continuing to build on the early success of her business, which has catered to the likes of Sofia Vergara and Jojo Siwa, she said.
The California native estimates Sophisticated Spreads now makes over $50,000 in social media brand deals and six figures in charcuterie board sales on an annual basis.
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Speaking to Insider, Rener said fall and winter are two of the most popular seasons for charcuterie because people tend to host more heading into the holidays.
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But creating a sophisticated yet delicious charcuterie board requires planning and a little bit of forethought, Rener said. To make things easier, she generally recommends following the simple rule of three – three types of cheese, three types of meat, three types of crackers, and so forth.
"A good rule of thumb is to work in threes," she said. "As long as you have three of anything on a board then I think it has enough variety."
She also said that limiting yourself to the rule of three ensures a spread is "not too overpowering."
Another tip Rener recommends people follow, especially if they are hosting a large group, is to measure the variety of cheeses on a board by the number of guests attending.
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"Let's say that you were hosting a party for 10 people. I usually take the amount of people and divide it by two. So you get five cheeses," she said, adding that you could then plate up a soft cheese, a crumbly cheese, some with "a little more power" like Gouda, and then a standout like blue cheese to round it off.
When it comes to creating charcuterie boards inspired by the fall season, Rener has plenty of other tips and tricks, including plating food on darker wooden or black slate boards, which she said adds a beautiful "moody backsplash" to the charcuterie.
Another recommendation she has is to capture fall flavors on the board with the accouterments – supplementary items. A few of her go-tos include candied pecans, pumpkin spice goat cheese, and, instead of honey, fig chutney.
"Typically people are harvesting figs in the summer and then they're making the fig jam in the fall or the winter. So I like that on my boards as opposed to honey," Rener said.
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Watch: Here's how a woodworker makes 20-foot charcuterie boards
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