by Mary Bailey
Small packets of delicious things are like catnip to food lovers, ideal to give or receive as a hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or to gather into a gift basket.
Who wouldn’t want to receive a gorgeous On Our Table walnut board with cheeses, fancy crackers, fruit, wine and a couple of jars of condiment? That’s practically dinner, and much more welcome than a cat sweater.
Seggiano Fig Ball
Friends gave me a fig ball a few seasons ago after a trip to Italy. I am happy to report that now you can buy them here. The Seggiano fig ball is a traditionally ingenious way of preserving the juicy Calabrian Dottato fig. Picked when plump, air-dried under nets, then cooked for 18 hours at low temperatures, all the while becoming deliciously sticky with caramelized fig juice. They are wrapped in fig leaves by hand and cooked for another two hours. Totally natural, no added sugar or preservatives, just sweet figgy goodness. Have with a glass of rich Amarone, $20.
Scottish Marmalade
Why are the Scots so good at marmalade? Even better, adding whisky? That’s nothing short of brilliant.
Mackay’s Orange Marmalade with Macallan 10-Year-Old Single Malt has complex flavours of orange fruit, whisky, and heather honey, delicious on rustic whole-wheat toast, $12.
The Bowmore 12-year-old Single
Malt Whisky Orange Marmalade is a thick-cut marmalade made with fresh oranges, blended with smoky 12-year-old Bowmore Islay malt, $12.
Macallan Highland Fudge
Macallan Highland Fudge is a butter-rich fudge infused with Macallan 10-year-old single malt Scotch whisky, and, according to My Fitness Pal, only 90 calories a piece, $12.
Mrs. Bridges
Mrs. Bridges makes delicious preserves and chutney in a wide variety of flavours. We’re especially partial to the seasonal spreads; the Christmas Preserve loaded with berries and mulled wine, and the spiced fruit Christmas Chutney would be lovely on a cheese board, $9.50.
Newget
Newget, that lusciously chewy confection chock-full of nuts and dried fruit, has become a classic holiday tradition, and it’s made right here in Edmonton. Try serving with an assortment of cheese and roasted almonds for dessert, effortless and delicious, $7 and up depending on size.
Makers & Merchants Mulled Cider Syrup
Just the thing to pump up the flavour in a holiday punch bowl, $15.
Cococo’s The Twelve Days of Christmas Collection
This set includes four winners from the 2014 Canadian National Chocolate Awards; milk chocolate with star anise and honey; caramel and milk chocolate with fleur de sel; dark chocolate with apricot jelly and lavender flowers; and a milk and dark chocolate with Cointreau, nutmeg, and hazelnut. We’re having chocolate fantasies just thinking about it.
12 pieces, $21.
Mrs. Weinstein’s Toffee
Buy two boxes of the irresistible Mrs. Weinstein’s Toffee Dark Pecan Toffee Squares, one for you and one as a gift, you’ll never go back to Almond Roca, $16.
Victoria Gourmet Turkey Rub
Victoria Gourmet Turkey Rub is a savoury blend of celery seed, garlic, onion, fennel and sea salt, redolent of fresh sage, marjoram and thyme in a handy tin. Use to brown and crisp the skin on your bird or rub under the skin, $ 9.
Shoecalates
You can have your shoes and eat them too. Annie Roggero, a maitre chocolatier in Montreal, puts together two of a woman’s favourite things, chocolate and shoes, and calls it a Shoecolate.
The stylish chocolate high-heeled shoes filled with bon-bons are colourful and fun, $29.
Nefiss Lezizz Orange-Stuffed Olives
Calgary-based Moustafa Cetin started Nefiss Lefizz to bring his family’s olive oil to Canada. Now the business imports sumptuous dried apricots, olive oil soap and delicious green and black olives from the family farm in northwestern Turkey. Varieties include almond-, cheese curd-, red pepper- and lemon-stuffed; we are partial to the orange-stuffed, finding the bittersweet tang of the peel a pleasing contrast to the richness of the green olives, $5.50.
Cavern Cheese Club
Know someone who loves cheese? Get them a cheese club membership of hand-made artisan cheese delivered to their door monthly. Cavern used formaticum ‘cheese breathing paper’ to wrap their cheese. It’s said to extend the life and good flavour by preventing cheese from suffocating inside plastic wrap.
Available at Bella Casa, Bon Ton Bakery, CC on Whyte, Call the Kettle Black, Cavern, Cococo, Freson’s, Hillaby’s, The Italian Centre Shops, The Pan Tree, Sandy View Farms, The Wired Cup, Zocalo, and other fine shops. Not all items in every store. All prices approximate.