Irrespective of the season, the charcuterie boards have become a great option for serving delicious food items to guests at gatherings, parties, and lunches. For the most part, the charcuterie boards are made with cured meats, and it’s accompanied with cheese, crackers, olives, nuts, spread, and fruits. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the popularity has increased in the past few years, and is meant to offer an array of savory and sweet options to everything.
While it’s pretty easy to put together, it has to be served properly, and you’ve to consider how long can a charcuterie board sit out? So, if you are ready to keep the charcuterie board appetizing and make sure it’s not spoiled, let’s check information about time limits.
For How Long Can You Leave Out The Charcuterie Board?
It goes without saying that the charcuterie board is delicious, but the food has to sit out at room temperature for hours. In addition, the guests tend to go to the charcuterie board again and again, but for how long can you leave out the ingredients. According to the FDA, you can only put a charcuterie board out for two hours at max, even if there are cured meats like chorizo, prosciutto, soppressata, and salami.
This is because if you let the food be at room temperature for any more than two hours, there will be chances of bacterial growth on meat and have the risk of making the guests sick. In fact, these two hours also include one hour that you’ve to give to meat to reach room temperature. However, meat is not the only addition to a charcuterie board because you have to consider cheese as well. This is because keeping cheese at room temperature will help develop the flavor.
When it comes down to cheese, four hours are more than enough for keeping cheese on the charcuterie board. For instance, if you have to add mascarpone cheese to the board, it cannot sit outside the fridge for more than four hours. On the other hand, firm cheese like parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese will start drying out after four hours. As far as the spread and dip are concerned, they cannot be left out at room temperature for over two hours.
For this reason, it’s suggested that you put the timer and don’t forget to let the guests know that they have to finish up the charcuterie board. In addition to this, it is suggested that you set out the smaller portion of cheese and meats at the initial phase of the party and refill the charcuterie board as the food starts finishing up. On the other hand, if you have the charcuterie board ready, but the guests haven’t arrived, you can simply put it in the refrigerator to retain the texture.
Having said that, if you want to retain the flavor of a charcuterie board, you have around two hours because after that, fresh fruit and cheese will start spoiling, and meat will be prone to bacterial growth.
Many people also consider how long they can keep the charcuterie board in the car because they are great to take to parties and housewarming parties (yes, it’s a dinner gift). In the case of a car, you’ve to stick with the two-hour timeline, but it’s best to switch on air conditioning.
Why Is It Important To Consider The Timeline?
When the charcuterie board sits out for too long, it’s meant to go bad, and since there are multiple ingredients on a charcuterie board, you’ve to be considerate about the temperature. At room temperature, the cheese will become spoiled pretty quickly, and the fresh fruits will start rotting. This is because in the majority of cases, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes are used on the board, and they cannot sustain themselves at room temperature for more than an hour or two.
As far as the meats are concerned, they tend to go bad at room temperature and high temperature, resulting in bacterial growth. For this reason, it’s incredibly important to refrigerate the charcuterie board before it’s served to the guests to prevent the chances of food spoilage and guests getting sick. Not to forget, you can also utilize meat slicers for slicing meat to prevent bacterial and germ growth.