HOW TO ARRANGE A VEGAN CHEESE PLATTER

What's the best way to arrange a vegan cheese platter? My trick is to treat it like a loose puzzle. But before we start placing things on the platter, let's talk about what's going to go on it!

Here, I'm using a slab of chestnut colored wood. Something darker like this lets the lighter-colored cheeses really pop. If you can use a dark wood or slate stone that's great. Alternately, you can go with a slab of marble or a glazed ceramic platter featuring bold glaze. Basically, use anything that's not a typical dinner plate!

I chose five different vegan cheeses: Cheezehound Mutzerella, Follow Your Heart Provolone, Dr. Cow Cashew Cheese, Bryt Life Chedyr and Miyoko's Liore Valley Fig Leaf. With planning the items you'll feature to compliment the cheeses, make sure to cover a variety of sweet, spicy, umami and salty and also a variety of textures like crisp, chewy, and crunchy. I included a spicy and sweet pepper jelly, a rich vegan caviar, fresh red grapes, a few sweet dates, some sea salt flakes, fresh figs, and peppery baby arugula. It's always a good idea to have a fresh baguette around, but it's not necessary to put it on the platter.

Here's another cheese-platter style you can try: