If your friends or business associates are hard to surprise, hard to please, appreciate rare, love a good story, and can’t say no to amazing artisan food…well you’ve come to the right place.
I’ve created this guide to some very unique and delicious artisan food gifts – first available in 2009 – and often for a limited time and in very limited quantities. They’re all shipped directly from the great small food producers through Foodzie, where I work.
We’ve enjoyed seeing the creativity and originality of these gifts coming to life, and now I want the world to know – It’s finally easy to give an awesome food gift that comes with a great story, to boot!
I’ve personally tasted everything I’m listing here. Please feel free to ask any questions:
RARE RAW HONEY IN A HANDMADE MAPLE GIFT BOX FROM MONTANA
Big Sky Honey is rare enough, with one beekeeper collecting honey from hives around Montana. (He identifies each raw honey as a varietal based on the area in which it was collected.)
Now add to that the fact that his hives were STOLEN this year, leaving him with just a few gallons of honey.
To raise money for new hives, the Big Sky Honey Farm had a local artisan create a birdseye maple box. With a run of only 100 of these 2009 Honey in a Birdseye Maple Shaker Box gifts, they are the perfect item for a health-conscious, honey loving friend who appreciates gives with a story.
LOS ANGELES SWEETS TIN: 3 PRODUCERS IN 1!
Platine Cookies is a fixture on the L.A. cookie lover’s scene. In her bakery in Culver City, Jamie also sells a variety of great candy from local Los Angeles candy makers.
Since Foodzie was already partnering with p.o.p. candy (artisan nut toffee crunch, based in Santa Monica) and Morning Glory Confections (artisan nut brittle, from the Silverlake area) to sell on Foodzie, it only took a little sugar for the AHA moment – aha! A holiday tin featuring a selection of great, fresh desserts and candy freshly made by the producers. And so the L.A. Sweets Tin was born.
Whether you’re sending gifts to LA expatriates elsewhere or to clients within Los Angeles, you can represent the home town and know your gift will be appreciated for the 10 minutes before it’s happily shared and devoured.
MINNESOTA AEBLESKIVER AND LOCAL JAM BASKET
Faster than you can say “Aebleskiver” you can order a basket full of delightful foods made in Minnesota, featuring perhaps one of the most interesting cast iron pans I’ve seen, for making the Danish tongue-twisting pancake: Æbleskiver
This is one gift that is truly local and artisanal – with the jam coming from produce from Lucille’s Kitchen Garden. The cast iron pan and much of the ingredients used in the Æbleskiver mix are also from Minnesota.
But what I really love is this is not only a huge amount of food – the perfect size for a family…imagine hanging out in your jammies during the holidays watching a video of how to make the Æbleskiver then trying out different fillings and toppings, starting with jam from the basket. Very fun and cool especially for kids and cooks who want to master a new delicious addictive stovetop doughnut. We’re kind of obsessed by these things.
NEW JERSEY SHORTBREAD COOKIE BARS BASKET
Speaking of obsessed, at a sampling last weekend, everyone – the attendees and other food producers doing sampling – all became obsessed with Simply Nic’s rich buttery shortbread. Nic is new. Nic’s shortbread is on the cusp of being discovered. She makes these soft heavenly shortbread bars in Princeton, New Jersey. Just today she came out with a large basket full of luscious bags of shortbread.
The basket is aching to have a few jams added, and luckily there are plenty to explore on Foodzie as well, to add into the basket if you like. Regardless, if you know anyone who loves shortbread and flavors like rosemary, lavender, and ginger, this basket is a surefire winner. Great, I’m drooling again!
ARTISAN JAMS FROM FLORIDA IN A HANDMADE WOODEN CRATE FROM MAINE
Since the early days of Foodzie, the interesting, fresh and luscious flavors that Wendy from Sunchowder stirs up in her kitchen have kept jam lovers coming back. She took a moment from the kitchen to conceive of this great jam gift box, using a wood crate made in Maine. Between the adorable paper covered lids, hand scripted labels, and a handmade wooden box, this is a winner for family, friends or business gifts.
Affordable too, with a $15 option that has smaller jars or $25 for 8 ounce jars!
Lots of basket makers are also looking to Sunchowder for jams in various sizes instead of the usual jam suspects. (Wholesale and volume discounts are available.)
STAY TUNED FOR GIFT BASKET IDEAS…
I’ll be posting again soon, and if you’re looking to put together your own gourmet food gift basket, check out Foodzie and contact me if you’d like suggestions!
All the producers will offer volume price reductions so Foodzie is a great place to give something different this year. 🙂
