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by Manuka Honey Team October 13, 2022 3 min read

5 Tips On How To Create Standout Food Platters

When it comes to entertaining guests, food is an important element to create a memorable time. Whether you are having people over for birthdays, long weekend catchups or seasonal events such as Halloween, Melbourne Cup, Diwali, Christmas or Eid, food is most often a key element of the get together.

Food platters are a very popular and on trend choice when entertaining guests. It is easily assembled, incredibly adaptable to the event’s theme or guest preferences. You can opt to only serve vegetarian, gluten free, savoury or even dairy free options. Also great is the option to spend as much or little as you like as the included items on the can be basic yet delicious or luxurious for the high end platter and everything in between. The possibilities are endless!

The trendy, pimped up version of the popular food platters are called grazing boards and are all the fashion these days. More than a basic food platter, it's an attractive array of little bites that look so inviting, you don't know what to try first!

5 Steps For Creating A Standout Food Platter:

Step 1: Choose The Board & Layout

Choose a big enough board or you can even use 2 boards to divide the food evenly on longer tables or bigger events
Create levels and visual depth with trays, little boards. high or tiered stands can help elevate items you want to have stand out
Use little dishes for dips and deli items like olives, marinated artichokes, stuffed mini peppers etc. Not only do little dishes keep the platter organised and tidy during the ‘grazing’, little bowls can add splashes of colour, too

Step 2: Add Colour

The more colourful and vibrant the platter looks, the more delicious and mouth-watering it will be perceived. Great options are combinations white cheese, black olives, bright red cherry tomatoes, green olives, bright beetroot dip, neutral coloured crackers, golden honey comb and whatever else you can find that looks fresh and vibrant.

Step 3: Mix & Match Textures & Flavours

Combining opposite or complementary flavours is a great way to build a delicious platter. Popular opposite flavour combinations are creamy and spicy, mild and strong and sweet and savoury.
Cheese and honey are a naturally delicious combination: A drizzle of sweet honey is the perfect contrast to the saltiness of a cheese.
Textures add to the taste experience. Choosing different cheeses such as crumbly and soft cheeses, in combination with crackers, Grissini breadsticks and even baguette and creamy dips give a great textual experience. Add some juicy fresh fruit such as pears or grapes with crunchy nuts and you have a winning assembly

Step 4: The Assembly

You have selected and prepared the most amazing items, but how do you present them now? Start by placing large and hero items evenly on the platter. Then add the bowls for dips and deli items, moving them around until you are happy. Next, fill the gaps with crackers or bread in groups and fill in the remaining gaps with your chosen fresh or dried fruit, nuts, cured meats or pretzels.

Step 5: Add The Often Forgotten Utensils

Once you assembled your platter and gave yourself a well-deserved pat on the back for a great job done, have one more look over your platter and add cheese knives, little spoons, miniature tongs, tooth picks or anything else that will help your guests pick their food of the platter. Don’t forget to provide napkins and little dishes for rubbish such as Olive pips, used tooth picks etc.

Follow your tastes and instincts when it comes to what goes onto your board, but if you would like some inspirations, we have added a full rundown of exactly what went on to my board in the photo below.

Amazing Grazing Platter

What’s on this platter?

Natural New Zealand Honeycomb
Dried Apricots (you can use dates instead)
Walnut and cranberry seeded crackers
Beetroot Dip (or substitute with another dip of your choice)
Walnuts (or substitute with Manuka Honey Roasted Macadamia Nuts)
Blue cheese
Extra dark chocolate squares (or substitute with Buzz Chocolate Bar roughly broken in chunks)
Sesame Grissini breadsticks
Deli cured meat such as Prosciutto
Stuffed or Manuka Smoked Olives
Pistachios
Green Grapes (you can also use sliced pear, strawberries or cherry tomatoes)
Sun-dried tomatoes
Brie
Deli Salami
Water crackers
Gouda cheese
Stuffed peppers
Rosemary to decorate