Throw Your Best Charcuterie Party Yet With Aldi's September Finds

As grilling season starts to wane and pumpkin spice season beckons, attentions turn from summer parties to autumn soirees. It's finally cool enough that the cheese on the cheeseboard isn't sweating more than you are. Kids are back to school, college is back in session, Halloween is just around the corner, and it's time to start getting cozier. There's a two-month gap between farmer's market sweet corn and supermarket candy corn, and Aldi has a number of items for embracing that transition — especially if you're into charcuterie.

Trade your Aperol spritz for a glass of wine, your burgers for cured meats, and your watermelon salads and late-summer berries for early autumn stone fruits, cranberries, and apples. This fall, you can go all out on the entertainment platters — even if it's just for you. Want to eat a jar of olive tapenade on seedy crackers for dinner? No one can stop you.

A great charcuterie board has at least two to three kinds of cheese (there is no ceiling on this number), cured meat, something crunchy, something briny, and something sweet. Whether you're looking for the best bites for a charcuterie platter or your next girl dinner, Aldi should have you covered in September.

If you love blue cheese, consider the Blue Stilton from Emporium Selection, Aldi's private label. It's crumbly, buttery, and slightly nutty — and not as in-your-face as other blues, like Roquefort. This cheese is certified by the Stilton Cheese Makers Association and imported from one of only six dairies in the U.K. licensed to make Blue Stilton. It pairs well with walnuts, honey, and those apples you're bringing home from the orchard.

Of course, not everyone is a blue cheese person. Emporium Selection also has a Double Gloucester with onions and chives, sometimes known as Cotswold. It's a cheddar-like cheese — smooth, creamy, buttery, and sweeter than Stilton, with savory kicks from the onions and chives. It's traditionally enjoyed with beer but would be just as good with a full-bodied red wine. Both cheeses – sold in 5.3-ounce blocks for $3.49 — will be available at Aldi starting September 8.

Combine your cheese and your briny element with cheese-stuffed olives. Starting September 8, Aldi will be stocking three kinds of cheese-stuffed olives to sate a broad range of taste preferences. There are feta-filled olives, white cheddar olives, and for a little kick, jalapeño jack olives. Not only are these ideal for snacking, but they should also make excellent bloody mary or martini garnishes. A 12-ounce jar costs $2.98.

Having options is always a great idea, so you might appreciate that the Appleton Farms salami sampler has three different flavors of salami: Classico, Herbs and Spices, and Black Pepper. This way, you can highlight different pairings on your charcuterie board. This 12-ounce pack of presliced cured meat will be available at Aldi starting September 8 for $6.49.

If you like your olives to be a bit more spreadable (or if you just love olives enough to have both stuffed ones and tapenade on your charcuterie board), Aldi's private label Specially Selected is selling three kinds of tapenade on September 8. There's Black Olive, Basil, and Cheese tapenade, which would pair well with the Classico salami; and Green Olive tapenade, with a mildness that would complement the Herbs and Spices salami. An olive-free Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke tapenade, which would pair wonderfully with the black pepper salami, rounds out the trio. They'll be in 6.35-ounce jars for $2.49.

To diversify the cheese portion of your grazing board, Aldi is offering three varieties of Specially Selected cheeses. The first is Mobay cheese, with layers of sheep and goat cheese pressed together with a striation of grape vine ash. The second is the special Cocoa Cardona from Carr Valley, a Wisconsin semi-hard goat cheese that has won many first and second place prizes in the last 20 years, privately labeled under Aldi as Specially Selected. It pairs well with honey and raspberry jam. The third is a fontina cheese featuring a rind rubbed with herbes de Provence. Try pairing that with the Green Olive tapenade and a slice of Classico salami.

All three cheeses will be available starting September 8. They'll be $4.49 for a 5-pound wedge.

Two seasonally available spreads are hitting Aldi shelves starting September 8. The first is the sweet and savory Onion Chutney. The second is the Red Pepper Fruit Spread, which is both sweet and fiery. Both seem particularly suited for serving simply on some crackers with a schmear of cream cheese. If you want to kick things up a bit, they'd probably be excellent spread on a freshly baked flatbread. The 9-ounce jars will be selling for $1.39.

Speaking of spreads, no cheese board is complete without an assortment of them. It's like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" for your mouth. Aldi is selling a variety pack for $5.99, containing four 5.5-ounce jars. There's a jar of Fig and Honey Spread that would be excellent with the Blue Stilton. Pair the Mobay cheese with the Apricot and Cumin Spread or the Pear and Cinnamon Spread to really feel the fall vibes. The Cherry and Rosemary Spread, meanwhile, would make for an interesting pairing with the cocoa Cardona cheese.

You can eat a piece of cheese on its own or pop a slice of salami right into your mouth, but once you start adding spreads, you're probably going to want a cracker. Aldi will have two under the Specially Selected label to choose from starting September 8: Rosemary and Original. At $3.49 each, you might want to stock up for the holidays.

If you prefer something a little less delicate with a lot of crunch, you can pick up some Grilled Crostini Toasts for $3.49 a bag. These take all the work out of slicing and grilling your own baguette toasts. They come in two flavors: Sea Salt and Garlic Herb. They're the perfect vehicle for some soft cheese and any of the tapenades, spreads, or chutney available on September 8 from Specially Selected.

If you're getting the Blue Stilton or the Mobay cheese, you may not want to leave Aldi without grabbing a jar of acacia honey, which is light, delicate, and sweet, with hints of vanilla. It's slow to crystalize, meaning you won't have to go through the gamut of honey de-crystallizing hacks before your party. The added honeycomb in the jar will make your board extra fancy, and yes, it's edible! Pair it with the Cocoa Cardona, Stilton, or Mobay cheeses. A 12-ounce jar will run you $7.49.

If you're throwing a shindig after September 20, you can get extra festive with one of Aldi's three fall-themed serving platters. There's a white, glossy pumpkin with a golden stem, a cream-colored maple leaf, and a fall-sky-blue maple leaf. Depending on how many of these seasonal fall snacks you get, you may need to utilize all three. They're $9.99 each.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a great wine to pair with any of the three salami varieties in the tri-pack. It also pairs well with chocolate (Cocoa Cardona, anyone?) and fig (like the spread in the four-pack). Don't Mind If I Do is a sugar-free wine, so it will be dry. You can pick it up from Aldi after September 20 for $7.99 a bottle.

If you need a bottle of red a little earlier than September 20, you can grab an Italian varietal on September 13 for $5.99. Montepulcianos pair really well with cured meat, making them perfect as a charcuterie wine. This wine will be dry with some acidity and medium tannins, plus notes of cherry (like the Cherry and Rosemary spread).

Chocolate is an unsung hero of the charcuterie spread. Both wines have notes of coffee and chocolate — so a container of dark chocolate-covered espresso beans seems like a sensible accompaniment. For a little post-cheese pick-me-up and a sweet snack, they'll be available after September 13 in 10-ounce containers for $3.49.

Rather than simply leaning into the fall festivities, you can dive into them headfirst with Aldi's limited edition Autumn truffles. There are three each of four different kinds to sample in this pack of chocolates: Pumpkin Spice (of course), Almond Maple, Caramel Apple, and Fall Berry. Truffles are a decadent and fancy way to easily serve dessert on a charcuterie board, and they'd look great on the elegant pumpkin serving platter beside the Cocoa Cardona and Mobay cheese. They're the first autumn items hitting shelves, available on September 6 for $3.69.