Don’t be intimidated when styling a cheeseboard. I know this looks unachievable but you can do it! I know you can. I always start with my cheeses placed equally around the board. For this one, I chose an English cheddar (since Shakespeare was in fact English), a spicy three-pepper jack cheese (something unexpected, like the twists and turns in Midsummer), an herbed goat cheese that would taste earthy, plus ricotta with lingonberry jam and mascarpone with a sour cherry jam. (You’ll see cherries in all three courses at my Midsummer Night’s Dream party because my favorite line of the play is, Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!)

For the meats, I chose prosciutto to pair with the sour cherry jam and mascarpone and mustard seed salami because *drum roll* one of the characters in Midsummer is named Mustardseed. I’m grinning from ear to ear as I write this. Mustardseed just so happens to also be my favorite kind of salami.

Every cheese board needs nuts in my opinion so I included herbed Marcona almonds that I brought back from Kuhlman Cellars. Marcona almonds are nutty gems to be treasured. They’re so worth it when you’re entertaining.

Have you ever tried honeycomb? You can buy it preserved in honey, like I did for my Cinderella Cheese Board, or buy it as a block. You might think it’s difficult to slice but a knife slices through it like butter. It’s delicious with spicy cheeses!

As for the fruits, I wanted the board to be a blush hue so I was planning peaches, strawberries, and raspberries but it’s important to be flexible when you go to the store because I stumbled upon pink lemonade blueberries! I see these so rarely and they’re such a treat. Have you ever seen a prettier berry?

Don’t forget to change up how you arrange the food. I kept the goat cheese as a log but that’s it! I cut the cheddar into thin slices and the gouda into triangles for visual interest. I don’t usually use ricotta or mascarpone on a cheeseboard but I thought it was a fun twist and I wanted to incorporate berry jams. Why not spoon them right on top? This board is a little messy and that’s okay. The mess just makes it sexier!

A cheeseboard hardly needs a recipe, but here is your shopping list if you want to recreate this magical Midsummer cheese board!