Charcuterie Cones ready for their debut. Honeycomb, brie, and a raspberry are my favorite part of these cones.
Charcuterie is life
I wish I could tell you why exactly, but I can not. I just love making charcuterie boards and cones. Cones are one of my favorite. Creating the board is just the beginning of enjoying this food. Blending and pairing of flavors, colors, and textures with elements of style is just very satisfying for me. One of the great things with charcuterie, is there is no one right way or a wrong way to make them. Its all you, your taste, your mood for the day. My personal style choice….Farmers Market Finds…
Inspriration at the farmers markets
The Charleston area has many markets to choose from to visit. Our farm visits 5-6 a week ourselves and there is so many more! I love to walk around and see what people are growing, crafting, and creating. I try to incorporate these items in my creations. The cones pictured above for instance has many farmers market elements. 1. Honeycomb and Rosemary from our farm. 2.Olive from Olinda Olives 3. Brie for Charleston Artisan Cheesehouse, 4. Everything Spices on the cucumber from Charleston Spice Company, 5. Duck prosciutto from Vital Mission Farm and 6. which you don’t see is a Rosemary Almond for Nana’s Nuts at the base of the cone. Supporting local farmers and makers is dear to my heart.
Details count
A few small elements can take your charcuterie creations to the next level. These simple wooden skewers look so elegant with the gold bead as the crown on top. Our second choice of skewer used a bamboo knot, this skewer was longer to fit the cone easier and added more texture elements. We also look for a few color elements like the red raspberry and green olive and cucumber. The cucumber was seasoned with Everything Spices for more color and pattern. No one piece takes over the cone, but the small elements together create a stunning edible art.
Why Cones are my favorite
I am a sucker for all things charcuterie, that being said, cones are my favorite. Cones can be displayed in a cone holder which you can see in my image at the top of the page. I made this at one of the those “sip and craft’ workshops in town on a girls night. Mason jars, laid on a platter, or a basket also make great presentation bases. The cone is easy for a guest to grab and continue to walk about and mingle around the festivities. Sometimes I see pieces of boards going to waste because people don’t really want to destroy those beautiful flowers or large waves of meat on a skewer. The cone is perfect for one person to hold in one hand and snack away while mingling. Also, I found cones more economical to display. With a board, I could spend hundreds filling out the area with meats, and cheeses, fruits and vegetables. With the cones, I use less of those elements and still create a grand center display.
Tips for Designing your cones
There are no rules in Charcuterie, but Ill share my tips for my favorite cones. I choose the larger 6 oz cones because I love to fill them up. There are smaller ones available for lighter snacks. The cones fill up pretty quick, you will not need as much as you may think. I like to start with thin breadstick or 2. they are tall, so I put them in first. I then fill some of the bottom of the cones with small pieces of cheese that taste great but dont stay on skewers well or assorted nuts. This helps build up the base of the cone so that other elements don’t end up hiding. I look for a tall cracker next, to place along the back of the cones. This also helps hold up my skewered elements. I place 2 skewers per cone. I like a sweet skewer and a savory one for my cones. My savory is an assortment of meats, with each meat either folded in quarters or rolled into a rose to make them easier to place into your mouth. I alternate the meats with a piece of cheese. A semi soft cheese is often best for the skewer. Hard cheese crumble and crack and soft cheeses fall off. I love the look of that rosemary seasoned olive in the picture above at the top of the skewer. For the sweet skewer, a chunk of honey comb, a fruit and a sweet brie is just divine.
Adding the sweet element
I loved this smaller, gold accented skewers for my sweet element. The gold and the honey are a perfect paring for me. I think fresh fruit is one of the best sweet, bold, color element you can add in charcuterie, plus can be found locally many times of the year. The sweet mild brie pairs so well with honey. honey can be added to cones with a simple honey stick, honey comb, or have a honey pot in your display for guests to drizzle their desired amount themselves. A stylish honey dipper can be chosen to complement your cones or display. A skewer with just alternating blueberries and strawberries would also look amazing. So many options to choose from, be creative, there are no rules for this!
Tying it all together
For extra fun depending on how many people are going to be enjoying the cones, or just based on my mood, I like to pull these together a little more. For the cones pictured above, I glued ribbon onto the cones with a hot glue gun before I filled them. it was just a cute bee ribbon I wanted to use. it was a honey themed recipe day of course :). I added the sprig of Rosemary for the color and height as the crackers, breadstick, and tall slice of smoked cheesed tend to start looking pale. I also added the vegetable element, a cucumber for the refreshing crispness that the cucumber brings, that easy to cut into a spear that stands in the cone, and you can season it easily. I love to rub the cucumber in some Everything Spices before placing in the cone. I find that seasoning mix blends well with the meats and cheeses. Easy to grasp and snack on, adds color and texture, a perfect charcutier cone element. Other elements that might be worth the try are edible flowers, a chocolate, a sliced strawberry on the edge of the cone, mozzarella pearls as your cheese element. Say a basil leaf, mozzarella piece and a cherry tomato (a caprese skewer, anyone?) Hap-Bee Creating your cones!