Top 8 festive food treats from local shops to gift at Christmas
Think local when it comes to edible gifts this year.
This year’s Christmas selection covers low budgets, some under €10, some tipping over €20, but all terrific value, and mainly Irish. It’s good to see SuperValu and independent food stores stocking Cork bakers Hassett’s sweet and savoury biscuits, which has made a huge effort to use responsibly sourced palm oil. Add locally blended teas and coffees to make a welcome mini hamper.
A loaf of sourdough made in Cork with a hunk of local cheese and bought at farmers’ markets, delis, online at NeighbourFood will delight. On the Pigs Back, The Real Olive, Iago will all make up packages of superb products. Cork-based company Bulabox.ie puts together a range of Irish products and will post with personalised cards in smart boxes: bulabox.ie. Jellies can be savoury as well as sweet, including the intensely flavoured basil jelly from A Bit on the Side (€4.95), abitontheside.ie.
For last-minute purchases, Erik Van der Veken has subscriptions to his chocolate club at arcanechocolate.com, while vouchers for cafés and restaurants will give them an outing to look forward to next year.
Have a safe and happy Christmas.
This smooth, elegant, fruity, organic olive oil comes in an attractive bottle featuring a drawing of a bee, essential to pollination. An ideal gift for those who use supermarket oils every day, this is delicious over fish, with bread and hard cheese (Hegarty’s Templegall is superb), over salads and hot vegetables, including pulses. From Ardkeen, Waterford, The Butler’s Pantry, Dublin and online at sarah&olive.com where there is an extensive range.
My favourite packaging of the year, designed by Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian sweet bread comes in tins that can become your cookie tin. Citrus fruits are softly deeply flavoured. I also bought the €50 version which comes with a small bottle containing Sicilian wine with an elaborate nebuliser for spraying over the cake to serve with panache. A sensual delight. Not cheap, but worth it. From ABC, English Market Cork.
Balsamic vinegar is superb added to a ragu, as well as in winter salads and slaws. Llewellyn’s Irish Balsamic Cider Vinegar (€10.95, Bradleys Cork) is very good. This superb Burren range has intense, pure flavours of apple, blackberry and thyme and raspberry to liven up ice-cream, cocktails (alcoholic and non), icings, marinades. The company’s excellent blood orange and cardamom is sold separately. In Roughty Foodie English Market Cork, Urru Bandon, Cinnamon Cottage, online at burrenbalsamic.com
Four separately wrapped rectangles are freshly nutty with almond and pistachios; almond and cranberries; almond and figs - delicious as an after-dinner treat. Try dipping in a shared dish of warm, melted dark chocolate as a talking point and easy dessert. Have a few of these crackers at the table instead of imported novelty varieties. We bought in Bradleys, Cork. See mienas.ie for other stockists.
Choose from a range of pure flavours – raspberry, blackberry, vanilla, coffee, lemon, salted caramel, and Earl Grey. A lovely treat to give to a family. Pop into the café in Winthrop Arcade, Cork (open Sundays until Christmas) for sumptuous chocolates and cakes, where the hot chocolate is delicious and you can taste some potential gifts before buying.
We spotted a large range of these chocolates in Brown Thomas, Cork, which saved us a trip to the shop in Kinsale. Four individually wrapped truffles in this mini size have hazelnut praline; orange and Grand Marnier truffle; cardamom and Coolmore honeycomb; ginger, honey and seaweed. There is further choice, even in this well-designed book shape size. A fun stocking-filler.
Mature Cashel Blue, St Killians and 15 Fields cheddar are paired with brown bread crackers in an attractive box for a good value gift – another way of supporting local, avoiding excessive wrapping and providing a treat when turkey has run its course. From selected Dunnes Stores. We bought in Bishopstown Court, Cork.
In stacks of two or three, these luxurious chocolate and hazelnut pastes from the excellent Cluizel and Francois Pralus lift the simplest cakes, biscuits, breads into the realms of luxury. Spread on the most basic panettone for extra sumptuousness, and a heaped teaspoonful in milk makes the best ever hot chocolate for the discerning. From an amazing range at the English Market, Cork, and online at chocolate.ie
