Zingerman's strattu (tomato paste) is Soo good and not too expensive. The zang candy bars are nice for Michigan expats and small gifts. I also like the violet and walnut mustards.
Funny how I still like to look for this thread for advice years later -- even now! I finally took the Zingerman's advice for gifts for my brother and for my brother in law when they had new babies (the new baby basket that they offer). This may shock many on the thread but the recipients weren't huge fans of their gifts - in fact my brother gave a few of the foods back to me!
Generally, I find the items from Zingerman's pretty pricey for what you get - being near Philadelphia we have access to a lot of these foods, so I don't know if it is a regional thing, and I can't bring myself to pay $10 for a loaf of bread plus shipping. For those who do buy from Zingerman's and love it -- what items do you truly love?
Aside from that, I still like Shatila.com, also like Harry and David's (good value for $$), and am tempted to try Georgetown Cupcakes and Mah-Ze-Dahr bakery. Anyone with good experiences with these?
I love sending gift baskets from Bella Viva Orchards because they have a great variety of dried fruit, nuts and other healthy snacks in them:
http://www.bellaviva.com/dried-fruit-gift-baskets
I've given and received bacon and ham from nueskes.com in Wisconsin.
They have mostly applewood smoked bacon and hams (the bacon is still my fave) and in the last couple of years have started making cherrywood smoked bacon. Oh my!
The shipping adds quite a bit to the cost, but most if not all of their products have to ship with refrigerated packs. Outstanding products.
Gary West Meats has some amazing jerky - makes a great gift for men who are hard to buy for. My dad LOVED the jerky of the month club. www.garywest.com
Luxardo maraschino cherries to put in a Manhattan. A teensy luxury worth every penny. Zingerman's has them. And have you looked at the excellent smoked salmon and other smoked fish things made by Ducktrap River in Maine? http://www.ducktrap.com/index.php
We also have a great Spanish charcuterie collection gift set here: http://shop.food52.com/deal/20532/fermins-holiday-charcuterie-essentials-from-the-rogers-collection
We'll be offering two fantastic heritage breed meat collections in the Food52 Shop tomorrow. Here's a preview, which you can access as of 12/6 12am ET:
I only use Zingerman's http://www.zingermans.com/ Their stuff is really good, reasonably priced, and they ship their stuff very well. You can avoid any high shipping costs by buying from their flat rate shipping tab. I've never been disappointed. I send Zingerman's for funerals, weddings, thinking-of-you's; basically for whatever. And I love to "research buy" from them.
I agree with LLStone. I send Zingerman's bread to friends and ever since my son left Ann Arbor for SF he gets the corned beef sandwich kit for his birthday.
I'm sure you'll get more up to date suggestions, but I posed a similar question a couple of years ago. Here are the answers: http://food52.com/hotline/809-i-just-spent-a-great-weekend-with-my-brother-and-his-family-they-love-to-cook-and-to-eat-i-d-like
29 Comments
Generally, I find the items from Zingerman's pretty pricey for what you get - being near Philadelphia we have access to a lot of these foods, so I don't know if it is a regional thing, and I can't bring myself to pay $10 for a loaf of bread plus shipping. For those who do buy from Zingerman's and love it -- what items do you truly love?
Aside from that, I still like Shatila.com, also like Harry and David's (good value for $$), and am tempted to try Georgetown Cupcakes and Mah-Ze-Dahr bakery. Anyone with good experiences with these?
http://www.bellaviva.com/dried-fruit-gift-baskets
They have mostly applewood smoked bacon and hams (the bacon is still my fave) and in the last couple of years have started making cherrywood smoked bacon. Oh my!
The shipping adds quite a bit to the cost, but most if not all of their products have to ship with refrigerated packs. Outstanding products.
VeganCuts and ConsciousBox are also great options.
http://shop.food52.com/deal/25279/bacon-and-porterhouse-heritage-breed-variety-tasting-collections-from-heritage-foods-usa
Voted the Best Reply!