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Christmas 2018: 20 best food and drink gifts
We all have one or two awkward people to buy presents for, but at least finding gifts for the flavour hounds in your life will always be as easy as pie. By Emma Henderson
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Your support makes all the difference.From zingy table sauces you’ll want to buy in bulk and slosh on everything to indoor garden growers, here are our 20 favourite gifts for people who love all things food – or just for you.
The Cheese Geek, from £29.99 thecheesegeek.com
Is there anything better than seasonal award-wining cheeses delivered to your door? No. We thought not. Either choose a subscription service for yourself or a fellow cheese lover, or pick’n’mix. Once delivered, set yourself up an excellent cheeseboard and then rate your cheeses with the nifty little score card – and you can reorder via the app too. Easy life.
Jubel beer, £1.80 sainsburys.co.uk
Made by university friends Tom and Jesse, these infusion beers made with either peach or elderflower (bear with us) and have been created with the fruit-loving cider drinker in mind, but transformed to a crisp lager in a bid to find a balance between sweet ciders and bland beers. Created in Cornwall, the duo sacked off their corporate jobs to be full time brewers: thanks guys.
TWG tea miniature set £10 each, available from TWG boutiques in Knightsbridge and Leicester Square
From the master of Singaporean tea, TWG, is this nine-strong miniature set of loose leaf teas. It celebrates the arrival of the tea in the UK (hooray) with new flavours based on London and all things British. Our favourite is Bond Street: a smoky black tea perfect for the cold weather.
Turtle Cup, £12.99 turlecup.co.uk
Donating 50p from every sale to #2minutebeachclean, a charity dedicated to helping clear beaches from plastic around the world, these reusable glass coffee cups give back to the plastic-free cause, and you’ll get money off your morning coffee in shops too. We love the mint coloured one best.
Dark chocolate smores, £28.50 harrods.com
Our favourite camping snack is not just for nights sleeping outside under the stars, but for Christmas too. And here, they’re all done for you thanks to Williams Sonoma, who’s so well known for them. There’s no fiddly melting and building yourself; instead it’s Guittard chocolate topped with sea salt, wrapped around honey crackers. Plus you get this vintage styled tin to keep.
The Spicery Southeast Asia Cook’s Tour recipe collection, £14.99 lakeland.co.uk
When you can’t travel to your favourite far-flung corners of the planet, what’s the next best thing? Eat the food from there, of course. For spice lovers with a penchant for southeast Asia, this recipe collection featuring Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bali will surely hit the spot and starve off itchy feet, for now.
World of Zing pineapple and habanero chilli sauce, £3.96 ocado.com
It’s fruity, firey and very zingy (as the name suggests) and our new go-to for spicing up anything, from replacing tomato ketchup with our favourite pizza to topping chunky slabs of cheese on toast. We’re looking to buy in bulk.
Pollen Street cookbook, £50 blackwells.co.uk
Winning a Michelin star just six months after opening in 2011, this is the cookbook from owner and chef Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social restaurant in Mayfair. With 80 recipes, it’s high-end restaurant quality food made accessible for home chefs.
Cupsmith coffee, £5.50 ocado.com
Husband and wife team Emma and George Crawford, based in Surrey, took the matter of getting good coffee into their own hands after leaving the capital, and made their own. We love the breakfast coffee, a blend of arabica beans from Brazil, best for its smell alone. All the blends are roasted on site.
The Almanac Guide, £10 foyles.co.uk
For anyone trying to grow their own veggies at home, this book is your bible. Follow the seasons for what to plant when, and when to harvest, and watch your garden patch bloom – hopefully.
Harvey Nichols mulled wine, £15 harveynichols.co.uk
You’ve not had mulled wine until you’ve had this beauty. Smooth, full flavoured and totally delicious it’s now our go-to for every year. Just gently heat and serve. We also love the bottle and use it as a candle holder afterwards. Kitsch.
Ocelot chocolate, £6 touva.com
Chocolate doesn’t get much better than this. High grade, organic and fairly traded, Ocelot follows ethical business practices with hand designed packaging that’s almost 100 per cent compostable too, and the team are working on the inner. It’s made in Edinburgh and we love the sea salt flavour most.
Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, £35.45 thewhiskyexchange.com
Recently launched in the UK, it’s created in one of India’s oldest distilleries set in the foothills of the Himalayas. The gin is triple distilled, made in small batches and we think it’s best served with Fever Tree clementine tonic and a cardamom pod.
The Noma Guide to Fermentation, £30 waterstones.com
The four-time winner of the world’s best restaurant is bang on trend with all things fermentation. At the Danish eatery every dish includes some sort of fermented food, from savoury miso to intense black garlic, forming the flavour profiles it has become so well known for. And now you can give it a go at home, if you can’t make it to the restaurant itself.
Hot chocolate gift set, £11.99 lakeland.co.uk
If coffee isn’t your thing, but you love the flavours associated with it, then maybe hot chocolate is the answer. This bulk set has everything from chilli to mint to vanilla among its eight flavours. They’re all made with Italian chocolate too.
Sous Chef mizumi set, £39.50 soushchef.co.uk
With all the basics to master ramen, from the recipes to serving it up, this set is perfect for those who love the Japanese dish. Each bowl is made in Japan and the booklet has four recipes to master.
Shetland cookbook, £15.04 wordery.com
Telling the stories of the 20,000 people who live in the most northerly isles in the UK and using the ingredients found there, this book is all about cooking on the edge of the world. It’s brought to us by a former Great British Bake Off finalist, James Morton (who teamed up with his dad, Tom), so he really knows his stuff.
Boxing Day chutney, £10 selfridges.com
We always expect Boxing Day to be the better day: more relaxed with cold meats and classic films. There’s also more time for munching and that means the cheeseboard comes out, and you’re more likely to be able to squeeze some in. And when you do, use this hearty and rich chutney. Why not, it’s Christmas after all.
Smart indoor garden kit, £169.99 lakeland.co.uk
If you know someone who just can’t get the easiest of their own produce to grown in their garden or window sill, give this a go. It practically takes care of itself with LED lights and is very compact – it even holds enough water to keep going for three weeks, if you’re lucky enough to go on holiday for that long.
Velvetiser, £89.99 hotelchocolat.com
It’s the season for a warming cup of cocoa, just not the watery kind. And chocolate experts, Hotel Chocolat, have sorted that. This gadget, which was created with Dualit, promises cafe-quality hot chocs at home. Dreamy.
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