Holiday Food Gifts

Bonnie: Today’s Bite is in response to the many requests for “What food gifts do you recommend for the holidays?”

What does BiteoftheBest.com suggest for holiday giving? Which foods are the best to give? Which companies are most reliable? Which foods taste the best? In other words, subscribers want us to share our holiday BiteoftheBest™ favorites!

Had I considered this query months ago as we launched, I’d have a lot more offerings for you. Instead, what follows is:

• a number of ideas based on those products selected as a BiteoftheBest™
• a chance to win some of those goodies (See the “take a chance” links in this bite on the site to our December Holiday Two Week Specials.), and
• a plea to anyone who offers epicurean gifts: Please contact us via the website with details of what you offer; we’ll review selected ones during 2008 and same-time-next-year we’ll provide subscribers with a taste-tested list of BiteoftheBest.com gift recommendations.

Some current BiteoftheBest™ suggestions:

• A baker’s basket filled with some or all of the following: a 5-pound bag of Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour made with Ultragrain®, a canister of SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend, Kerrygold Butter, Craisins®, a 10-ounce container of SACO Premium Baking Cocoa, a cookbook, a rolling pin, cookie cutters, and/or measuring spoons and cups. You might even toss in homemade cookies, muffins or candies.

• A Game Plate Dinner for Two (two semi-boneless all natural quail birds, two 4-ounce Elk Medallions and two 4-ounce Buffalo Filets) or a Grilling Man’s Package (two 8-ounce Buffalo Filets, two 12-ounce Buffalo NY Strips, two pounds Buffalo Burgers and two pounds Buffalo Brotwursts) from The Fort Trading Co. Get a 10% discount off your order with coupon code “mistletoe.”

• Some cheese lovers’ options include a Cabot Variety Pack (two bars each of their Sharp and Extra Sharp cheddars, along with eight-ounce bars of smoky Chipotle, tasty Tomato Basil, tangy Horseradish and spicy Pepper Jack), The Maple Leaf (One pound of rich, full-bodied Vintage Choice, one pound of Private Stock and a glass maple leaf container of pure Vermont Maple Syrup presented in a Cabot farm scene gift box), or a limited edition Cheese Box Gift (1-pound each waxed Sage cheddar, Smoked cheddar and Hunters’ cheddar packed in an authentic Vermont cheese crate). Take a chance to win either the Variety Pack or The Maple Leaf Cabot Creamery gift basket before noon on December 19.

• A few gift choices ideal for any cook on your list are fresh fruit or vegetable baskets. Consider Melissa’s Deluxe Exotic and Tropical Fruit Basket (may include Asian pears, blood oranges, feijoas, kiwis, kumquats, persimmons, pomegranates, sapotes, tamarillos, lychees, passion fruit, specialty bananas, strawberry papayas, cherimoyas, baby pineapples, pepino melons, mangoes, starfruit, or coconuts) or Baby Vegetable Basket (may include baby versions of artichokes, beets, broccoli, white icicle radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, cauliflower, eggplant, squash, leeks, carrots, potatoes and radishes). Both come in a cellophane wrapped woven basket. Take a chance to win one of these two fabulous Melissa’s baskets.
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• A soup basket with Swanson’s Organic Chicken Broth, Progresso Cannellini Beans and a plethora of fresh vegetables from a favorite soup recipe with, of course, the recipe.

Those suggestions should give you a jump start for holiday food gifts for this year.

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy and delicious holiday season!

Bryan: What better excuse to share great food with friends & family than the holidays? There is, of course, the holiday meal: turkey, ham, goose, brisket and all the decorative trimmings. Personally, I am a huge fan of potato latkes. (It’s a holiday treat that still gets the competitive juices flowing in my family — does Uncle Herb or Opa make the best? A question like that will always start a controversy). There are many options for the holiday feast, but the meal is only half the story. The holidays offer serious epicureans a chance to share their passion with those close to them. Bonnie has given many selections out of the BiteoftheBest™ bag of tricks, but there are so many more to consider. I like to stay away from perishable items. Wine and spirits are a great place to start. Try something a bit different than the standard bottle of chardonnay; dessert wine is an amazing and rarely tried treat. Try a sweet sherry like a Pedro Ximénez or go for a more lavish gift of sauternes (liquid gold) or icewine. Experiment, take the opportunity to ‘teach’ your friends and family about some of the culinary pleasures you’ve found. A great food gift is more than a single giving; allowing others to realize the joy of new tastes is a gift that truly keeps on giving. Happy holidays from all of us at BiteoftheBest.com!

Eric: Holidays: a corporate excuse to boost revenue throughout the year, and a family’s reason to gather around the table and celebrate life together. For me, holidays aren’t something I look forward to, especially those of the “Christmas holidays”. Call me Scrooge, I don’t mind. Don’t get me wrong; I will always enjoy a meal, surrounded by those people closest to me, with good food and good wine. I simply don’t feel it has to be justified by the celebration of a holiday. I also love presents (who doesn’t?), but I like to receive a present without a reason — not just because it’s a holiday, but because the present will really mean something to me, something so exciting that you wouldn’t be able to wait for the holiday to give it to me. So, for this holiday season my advice would be to invite some close friends over for some hot chocolate in the morning (depending on where you live, of course), open a few bottles of wine towards the mid-afternoon, heat-up the oven and throw in the bird towards the evening, and buy your presents after Christmas to save more than 50%. Enjoy the Holidays!