Welcome to my Christmas gift guide - I am excited to share with you a range of food & drink products to help you with you Christmas shopping.
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Garlic lovers STOP HERE
The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight has an amazing selection of Garlic based products that would make great stocking fillers or you can select a few items to make a small hamper like the one below. There is a farmshop and a Restaurant that deserve a visit and I fancy a bit of glamping in 2025 if it isn't too cold.
Last day to order online is 18th December.
If you are just looking for something small to send through the post this year - how about one of these from Shroot.
Greens & Greetings are a card, envelope and plant pot in one, perfect for growing tasty edible micro greens. A neat idea that contains everything the recipient needs to grow their own frilly pea shoots.
Where to buy: Shroot
A small but dedicated team run The Glasshouses Nursery in rural Sussex offering slightly different gifts that includes over 100 different fruiting or flowering plants.
I absolutely love the idea of sending plants through the post to friends and family that you can't be with at Christmas, but how about sending vines and a beautiful bottle of wine to a loved one - the gift that keeps on giving.
Where to buy: Plants4Presents
Of course when it comes to Christmas our house could never be without a selection of chocolates and these are a firm favourite.
Where to buy: Major supermarkets & Online: Guylian Chocolates are available to order online for home delivery from all the major supermarkets, Ocado and a host of specialist online retailers including Moonpig.
Convenience Stores: Perfect for the last-minute dash or for those who don’t want to travel far from their front door, you’ll find a great choice of Guylian Sea Shells, Guylian Sea Horses, Guylian Temptation pouches and Guylian Chocolate Bars at a range of convenience stores including Co-op, Budgens, Londis and Spar.
High Street Stores: Doing some of your Christmas shop at the likes of B&M, Wilkinson, Home Bargains, Superdrug, The Range, Poundland or TKMaxx? Choose from a specially selected range for great value gifts and stocking fillers.
Guylian Praline Sea Shells 250g box RSP £5 or 375g box RSP £7.00
Guylian Belgian Deluxe Assortment 369g RSP £11.00
Guylian Temptations 323g RSP £4.00
Dorset producer Black Cow known for their milk vodka and quality cheese have once again produced a limited number of their Christmas Spirit, literally all the ingredients of Christmas pudding, macerated in Black Cow Vodka - delicious, note: it's also now the proud holder of the IWSC gold label. Last year I was lucky to find a bottle last minute in a local store - don't make the same mistake, order now, once it's gone its gone.
Drink with champagne and a twist of orange or with warmed cloudy apple juice.
Where to buy: www.blackcow.co.uk
Produced just a few minutes from my house in Christchurch, Dorset it is always a pleasure to recommend this brand for your Christmas cocktail cabinet.
Pothecary produce several gins all available from the Pothecary website along with some specially designed cocktail kits for the season.
Original
Sicilian Blend & Cinnamon twist
Trinity Blend
Thai Blend
Smugglers Strength
Sloe Gin
Cromwell's Ruin
At this time of year when we are all less likely to want lots of ice, distiller Martin Jennings suggests making a hot G & Tea with his Sicilian Blend. All you need is your teacup some Chamomile Tea and a slice of orange to garnish - its delicious!
Hot G & Tea
200ml Chamomile Tea
25ml Cinnamon Twist Gin
A little sugar to taste
a fresh slice of orange to garnish
Where to buy: www.pothecarygin.co.uk
If your present list requires something spicy...
Chilli No. 5 offers some really tasty gourmet chilli sauces, four gift set collections; The Dining Collection, Celebration, The BBQ Collection, and The Kitchen Collection.
The Kitchen, Celebration and BBQ Collections each contain five hot sauces, while the Dining Collection includes 10 hot sauces. All of the chilli-licious sauces come in sleek tasting bottles and are packaged in elegant black gift boxes.
Head to their website where you will find prices for the British-made hot sauces start from just £10 per bottle.
Where to buy: Chilli No.5
Dorset Sea Salt has come a long way since it was founded by Jethro in 2017, although it still continues to preserve some of the traditional methods of the sea salt industry. With an amazing range of flavours to choose from one of their award winning gift sets would make a wonderful gift for the chef in your house or a welcome addition to a hamper.
Recently tv chef John Torode made a Margarita using the Beetroot flavour, now that's an idea for your Christmas party!
Where to buy: Dorset Sea Salt - Coop
The UK's only growers of fresh wasabi, growing the plants in mineral rich water on their Dorset and Hampshire farms.
Click on their website to browse through all the gifts and kits available they range from Wasabi starter kits to Japanese Cooking collections. Unique stocking fillers!
Mitch Tonks founder of Rockfish restaurants launched his 6th cook book in 2023 it's full of wonderful photographs and accessible recipes and would make a great gift. Click on the link below to buy online or pop into one of the restaurants to collect your copy.
Rockfish tinned seafood is something new on the market and being sourced directly from our fisherman on the South Coast of England it is definitely something we should be supporting.
Harvested and preserved in peak condition our local fish is cooked, marinated and preserved in sauces, & oils for you to enjoy at your convenience.
Where to buy: Cookbook and Tinned Fish
Popcorn Cracker
If you fancy a Popcorn Shed Cracker this Christmas then, its time to get shopping.
Popcorn Shed have 60 product lines in their range meaning you will be spoilt for choice, but this cracker has been popped and already on the tree as decorations, who will be the first to sneak a treat. Who likes popcorn in your house?
Where to buy: Popcorn Shed Ocado - Waitrose - Harrods - Amazon
If pink gin is your thing, try this one, it is produced in one of favourite holiday spots, Devon.
Salcombe Gin - Rosé Sainte Marie is one of only two 'pink' gins in the world to have been awarded Double Gold at the San Fransisco World Spirits Competition.
Available in 70cl, 5cl and a range of gifts, 41.4% ABV
If you are looking for a non alcoholic gin alternative (no judgement) the brand has developed 'New London Light' worth a look.
Where to buy: local stockist Haywood Wines Salcombe Gin
Local business Yarty Cordials produce a range of vinegars, and oils that deserve a place on your Christmas table with all those salads, cold meats and cheeses and their cordials are perfect for those moments when you need something refreshing that doesn't involve alcohol.
Where to buy: online at Yarty
Is it even Christmas without cheese?
Everyone needs cheese at Christmas. Based in Cranborne, Dorset Multi Award winning Book & Bucket Cheese Company needs to be on your Christmas table, source yourself a supply asap. With 9 regular sheep's milk cheeses and 7 cow's milk and a number of limited edition cheeses you will be spoilt for choice, all the milk used is sourced locally, collected within 24 hours of being milked and made into cheese the same day.
Try any good farm shop/deli - stockist list on their website, the festive hampers look amazing.
Where to buy: Book & Bucket Cheese Company or my closest Parlourmentary
Always a firm favourite is the wonderful Dorset based The Real Cure
Producers of Award winning British Charcuterie - order as a letterbox present for someone else or stock up for the guests coming round to your house this Christmas.
Look out for this brand in particular Opies Fruits with Alcohol range that will make a lovely addition to the Christmas food shop or a tasty gift. I've got plans to have mine with a Jamie Olivers eggless chocolate cake but they would jazz up any dessert.
Opies Pineapple with Luxardo Spiced Rum
Opies Peaches with Courvoisier
Black Cherries with Kirsch
Baby Pears with Amaretto
Red Berries with Pink Gin
Apricots with Dark Rum
No Boxing Day feast would be complete without cold meats, cheeses and pickles, my dad always buys these pickled walnuts and stem ginger, it's a Christmas tradition in our house,
you can find them in the Pickled Vegetable or Home Baking aisle.
Where to buy: Ocado, Morrisons, Waitrose, Tesco, Booths & Nisa
One of my favourite days of 2024 was spent with two very special people in the middle of a field of mint dipping our feet into a bowl of aromatherary oil. Weird but true!
Summerdown Mint based in Hampshire produces some amazing mint chocolates, peppermint tea and peppermint/lavender oils but the tours, shepherds huts are well worth looking at if you value experiences over a physical gifts.
Whatever you buy this Christmas try and think about the people behind the brand that could really do with your support to keep them operating.
Happy Christmas everyone, I hope this helps with some of your present shopping.
Best wishes,
Rae
The15milefoodie
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