Food Gifts You Can Make at Home

Disclosure: I have received payment for this post: Food Gifts You Can Make at Home. The text and photograph have been provided to me. 

Now is a great time to make food gifts that you can give as Christmas presents. As the growing season comes to an end there is plenty of fruit and vegetables that you simply have too much of. Old fashioned cooking has been making a big return and one of the harvest time cooking tasks of old was to make preserves.

Food from the Allotment

With the resurgence of old fashioned cooking has come the desire to grow your own fruit and vegetables. Allotments have also seen a big come back and the varieties that you might find on today’s allotments may have changed a bit. While some people still grow the traditional potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage and beans (and there’s still a place for these) you might also find more exotic vegetables like yams or okra. Of course, it’s personal choice what you grow – it all depends on the food you like to eat. Inevitably there will sometimes be a glut. Runner beans have done exceptionally well this year and you can usually find some being sold at a very reasonable price outside the allotments.

What to do with all this Produce?

Without doubt, anyone who has grown runner beans this year has just about had their fill of them. Modern technology means we can freeze down a lot of our produce to use throughout the year. But there’s no fun in that and you can’t give a bag of frozen beans as a present at Christmas! How about making jars of runner bean chutney? This is sure to be a gift that thrills your friends and family and it’s not the sort of thing that you can readily find in the shops. Make a selection of chutneys and jams and you can put them together to make a charming gift that has extra meaning because it’s home-made.

I can’t grow Veg!

Not everyone has access to allotments or has the ability or desire to grow their own vegetables. You can buy fruit and vegetables when they are in season so that you can make your own jams or chutneys but you may not have the time to do it. All is not lost as there are a number of purveyors of luxury food gifts that have done the job for you.

The essence of a Christmas Food Gift

Whether you are making your own or collecting some food items to give as a gift put some thought into it so that the recipient gets a gift they will remember. Here are a few tips to help you create the perfect gift:

• Mix your own home produce with a gourmet item like the ones you can find at http://www.maille.co.uk/online-boutique/gifts.list
• Give the ingredients for a favourite recipe
• Make up a winter picnic basket and include your chutneys and some mustard to warm things up
• Make your gift look attractive by adding gingham cloth fabric lids to your jars and lining a basket with the same cloth
• Make a cheese and wine hamper and include chutneys and mustard

It doesn’t matter if you use your own produce or buy speciality produce to make up your own gift. As they always say, it’s the thought that counts so make sure your gift will be special to the person it’s intended for.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Simon Howden

What I blogged:

• one year ago – Honey Nougat
• two years ago – Arugula
• three years ago – Secret Santa

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