Fabulous holiday gifts ideas from your kitchen

Fabulous holiday gifts ideas from your kitchen. Attractively packaged assortments of go-with food items make wonderful, appealing gifts at a tad of the price paid to a gourmet packager. Learn how now.

You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen, or to spend a fortune by ordering from a catalogue, if you want to give good food gifts this holiday season. The charm of such gifts is in their selection and packaging, and you can be as creative as you like, whatever the budget.

One of my favorite uses of fresh garden produce is as holiday gifts. Jars of home preserved pickles, relishes and jams make tasty gifts, and are nicely accompanied by crackers, cheeses and other goodies purchased in the supermarket. If you have a garden, dry and save herbs for this purpose each year, or buy fresh herbs from a farm stand and dry your own, following simple directions from your County Extension Service.

Purchase small, attractive jars such as apothecary jars, pack with assorted herbs and buy or make attractive labels. Steep herbs in simmering clear vinegar and bottle together in special containers purchased at craft stores and supplied with flip-on cork stopper. Slip a few recipes for using the herbs into the gift box with herbs and flavored vinegars, and some special cook will be very pleased.

Each year I string red chile peppers, garlic or shallots, the latter two braided on a strand of thin rope or baling twine and use them in gourmet gift boxes. If you don’t grow these delicacies yourself, you can find them at supermarkets or ethnic or upscale groceries. String up two or three braids, include a recipe for their use, and package attractively. For example, lying in a nest made of a pair of bright red plaid dish towels. Any cook worth his salt will be tickled to find such thoughtful flavorings for his favorite work.

Other fun gift packages I’ve constructed rely on perfect combinations put together with an appropriate kitchen implement or container. One year I took a quart of home-canned tomatoes, although a purchased can or even a package of sun-dried tomatoes makes a fine substitute, packaged it with a wedge of tasty peccorino romano cheese (packaged tightly in plastic wrap and a plastic bag), a small string of garlic bulbs, jars of dried basil and ground hot pepper, a package or two of good, imported pasta and a couple of favorite Italian recipes. You could wrap it all in a large kitchen colander or an inexpensive but attractive basket wrapped in a checkered dish towel and voila!--a gift anyone would be proud to give, happy to receive.

Here are some additional ideas for home-assembled treats that start in your kitchen, maybe even in your garden, too.

This next package was inspired by my experience of Devonshire Cream teas last year in England. The dairy rich area of England called Devon, in the southwest, is famous for a kind of clotted cream--cream that has been thickened and sweetened, then applied to warm, split scones and topped with jam, usually strawberry. I was thrilled to find it available at home. The tea or tea pot makes a perfect accompaniment.

English scones with all the trimmings make an attractive sidebar to a small crockery teapot or assortment of Earl Grey and other teas. Bake your scones from an easily available recipe, or purchase at a good bakery, add a fancy jar of preserves, and add a costly but amazingly good jar of Devonshire cream, available in most supermarkets now. Give to a favorite aunt or sister who likes her tea time, and watch them purr.

A Deli Delight basket might be built on a quart jar of fresh half-sour pickles, a wedge of Swiss cheese and package of vacuum-packed fresh pastrami, complemented by a loaf of the dark rye from a Polish or Jewish bakery in your area. Or try the makings of a Rueben, with a can of sauerkraut, swiss cheese and corned beef, with a similar loaf of rye and a jar of fancy mustard. Naturally, Deli packages containing meats or fresh cheese will have to stay refrigerated and be delivered soon after assembling.

A Pizza Kit Gift might start with a package of sun dried tomatoes, a package of yeast or prepared crusts, such as Boboli, a stick of Pepperoni sausage, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, a jar of dried oregano and a small bottle of olive oil. Add a pizza pan if that suits your budget. Do include your own recipe for Pizza Sauce, and a warning to keep the perishables in your gift refrigerated.

Antipasti relishes are always popular around the holidays, especially with New Year's Eve coming. Arrange an assortment of gourmet relishes such as Pepper Relish, Corn Relish, salsa and Chili Sauce in a basket with appropriate chips, crackers, bread sticks or cheeses and olives. An attractive serving dish or basket that will hold your assemblage of treats will look great, wrapped in red or green or gold cellophane. Add a bottle of bubbly in your price range, and you have a gourmet gift that will have someone sitting up and taking notice!

You don’t need to order an expensive assortment of sweets from a catalogue for the friend with a sweet tooth. For less than half the price, buy them from a local candy shop, or cookie specialty store, or a combination of the two, wrap in small packages and assemble those into a tower your tie together with brightly colored cellophane wrapping; affix a huge bow. Recently I included a pound each of great peanut brittle and chocolate turtles, some licorice sticks, after dinner mints, cookie pops decorated for the holidays, candy kisses in foil and a half-pound of jelly beans into one such package, taking into account the favorites of the family who would be getting the gift. Be prepared for “oohs and aahs”!

Everybody loves good food gifts, and from my experience, I can assure you the treats you pick and combine and package yourself will be far more appreciated than the skimpier ones that waste your money on cardboard, aluminum foil, hoopla and shipping fees. Get to work, and enjoy a holiday simmered in your own kitchen—without lifting a cooking finger!