The Menu's top Christmas hampers for the finest festive fare
You’ll be hard pressed not to eat the packaging as well of this exquisite seasonal selection from the Lismore Food Company, in Co Waterford, old hands when it comes to seasonal pampering
In days of yore, hampers were afterthought assemblages of some of the tiredest products on the seasonal shelf, from cheap tinned biscuits to maiden aunt’s sherry tipple, but that began to change several years ago as an enlightened few put together collections of superb Irish specialty produce. The pandemic has turned that initial trickle into a torrent and, so spoilt are we for choice, it’s hard to know where to begin so The Menu has put together his pick of the bunch to ensure a Christmas table groaning under the weight of finest festive fare.
Once again, the most stylishly liveried of any hamper out there and that luxurious theme continues with superb offering of fine sweet & savoury biscuits, confections and snacks, now also including teas, coffee, jams, marmalades and chutneys, cordials, chocolate, hot chocolate, balsamic vinegar, honey and nuts. Amongst the 26 new products on offer is the sumptuous All Butter Panettone made for the Lismore Food Company in the Veneto and Organic Irish farmhouse cheese, as well as wines and champagne.
https://thelismorefoodcompany.com
A selection of hampers delivered worldwide, including some of the finest produce from their hinterland, not least a wonderful West Cork Breakfast package. www.fieldsofskibbereen.ie
The ever splendid St Francis Provisions’ hamper includes 12 jars of house made sweet and savoury treats and a bottle of premium natural wine.
https://www.facebook.com/stfranciskinsale or email: sfpkinsale@gmail.com
Four hampers, beginning with Three Wise Jars (€16), Secret Santa (€30), Christmas Indulgence Hamper (€65) right up to The Christmas Day Box (€99) with all manner of fine fare created in Farmgate kitchen, including Stonevalley ground coffee, Jameson Ham Glaze, Farmgate Mincemeat, Kilahora Fine Perry, Drunken Figs and Chocolate Biscuit Pudding. www.farmgatecork.ie
A very tidy little grazing box from Ballymaloe-trained Aisling Murphy featuring her own homemade dips, pickles and chutney, along with cheese, charcuterie and crackers and some extra frills for a wonderful night out at home with friends. www.thetinyturnip.ie
A selection of hampers offering treats, chutneys, relishes, jams, sauces created in their Bunratty restaurant kitchen along with chocs, biscuits, wines, whiskey and bubbles. www.jpclarkes.ie
This excellent Limerick outfit’s Christmas offering is designed to treat body and soul in equally gentle fashion including a Curraghchase Alcohol-free Local Food Hamper packed with Cordial & Juices, Biscuits & Crackers, Chocolates, Jams & Condiments and other treats. They also offer other fine fare plus organic and local wines, and all packaging is 100% compostable. www.theurbanco-op.ie/
Some of the best hampers around, including the wonderful Urru’s Best of 2021, impeccable selections including: Menu faves Valentia Island Vermouth, Poachers’ mixers, Elstar Irish Apple Fine Wine, West Cork Coffee, Suki Tea, Nutshed Peanut Butter and so much more. Other hampers include Munster Medley and Living Well Box as a counterpoint to Yuletide excess. www.urru.ie
If you can’t quite stretch to a gift of a night or two away in any of the fine Cliff group hotels, then one of their hampers goes a long way to bringing the luxury of a Cliff Christmas into your home, including carefully selected food and drink options from The Pantry at CLIFF, much of created in some of their superlative restaurants, including Michelin-starred Aimsir and House Restaurant at the Cliff House. Also includes non-edible gifts for plenty of Yuletide pampering from The Well at Cliff spa range. www.cliffhome.ie, with CLIFF vouchers for experiences, meals, spa treatments and stays at Cliff at Lyons and Cliff House Hotel available from both properties and online too, which always make exceptionally welcome Christmas gifts. www.CLIFFHome.ie
A ‘best of’ selection of Blás na hÉireann award winning products from 2020 and 2021, packed with boozy tipples, hot beverages, sweet treats and savoury goodies, including ‘Wild About’ Sloe Jelly from Wexford, Gold and Supreme Champion Winner in 2021. www.irishfoodawards.com
A range produced in conjunction with Love Irish Food, featuring some of the most iconic Irish food brands, from specialty products to favourite old staples, including O’Donnell’s crisps, Ballymaloe Relish, Flahavan’s, McCambridge Bread, Legacy Cider, Folláin Irish Preserves, Tayto and many more. www.ardkeen.com
Carefully curated bespoke homemade selections from Sligo’s Pudding Row The Grocer include 1lb traditional Christmas pudding, mince pies, mincemeat with brandy butter and other treats. www.puddingrow.ie
Always a treasure trove, this year a more environmentally friendly packaging has stripped away the frills letting the contents do the heavy lifting, including superb puddings and mince pies and a selection of some of the finest fare from producers in their hinterland, with house products also including Christmas Relishes, Cranberry Chutney, Fig Confit, Plum Jelly, Christmas Granola, Mince Pies along with Free Range Pates and Derek McCarthy’s Spiced Beef. www.nash19.com
As befits a county where the Irish Farmhouse Cheese revolution began, we are never far from a source of the finest Irish cheese, beginning in Cork city with the incomparable Iago, surely one of the finest cheese shops anywhere, On the Pig’s Back and an outpost of Sheridan’s cheesemongers, in Bishopstown. However, for those less blessed, online ordering from Sheridan’s is a true lifeline.
A veritable cornucopia for the cheese lover, The Menu’s idea of heaven, not includes a superb range of excellently husbanded Irish farmhouse cheeses and classics from elsewhere in the world, and a wonderful Cork Selection to remind you that the Rebel County remains Ireland’s spiritual home for this life affirming food. Also has a superb selection of associated gifts including crackers, boards, cheese slicer, and the Irish cheese bible, The Sheridan’s Counter Culture Guide to Cheese. Create your own hamper, give a cheese club subscription or even gift a Virtual Wine & Cheese Evening (January 21st, when NY resolutions should be well and truly forgotten). www.sheridanscheesemongers.com
A little bit of Spanish sunshine is long overdue but Heart of Spain, a Cork-based family run business in Carrigtwohill, bring more than a few rays into your life this Christmas with some excellent wines, cheeses and cured meats and jams, turrón and olive oil, from the historic region of Castilla y Leon. C&C/ND. www.heartofspain.ie
Some time in the future, The Menu plans to spend a Christmas in the wintery snows of Northern Italy, sipping Marco Fondrini’s legendary hot chocolate and brandy and stuffed to the gills with finest Italian fare, but for now he will make do with adopted Corkonian Marco’s wonderful hamper including organic EVO, Modena Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Pate and Casera Cheese from his native from Valtellina and also panettone and wines and a host of other treats. www.damirco.ie
That stollen (including nuts, spices, dried and candied fruit, marzipan, icing sugar) is actually a ‘bread’ traditionally eaten at Christmas speaks volumes of the generosity of German baking but don’t be gulled by any of the cheap substitutes in the multiples. Instead order the truly gorgeous real deal via Dietmar Weiss, married to Irishwoman Jen Cummins and living in Ireland for the last 25 years, and whose family have baked them in Germany for over 100 years. Be warned however, once opened and paired with strong black coffee, it is unlike to ever return to the packet. https://www.facebook.com/stollen.weihs
