Last-Minute Local Holiday Food Gifts

Last-Minute Local Holiday Food Gifts

It'd be great if people could contribute some sources for local holiday food gifts. I'll start with one I just sent yesterday.

Time was, we bought little brown plastic jugs of maple syrup from Costco. Then I found Three Queens for sale at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market:



The Three Queens version is so incomparably better than what’s regularly available that it’s become our condiment of choice on pancakes, ice cream and hot cereal.

There are three grades, and “very dark” is the grade of syrup that’s produced late in the season. We prefer its stronger maple flavor.

Particularly for out-of-state relatives, I like to send holiday gifts that somehow reflect our region. Three Queens is a high-quality Midwestern product, produced by an Oak Park family and sold through their family store.

I do all my shopping online. I sent a bottle of the very dark maple syrup to a family member. With shipping, it’s under $20 – and it’s helpful that Three Queens takes care of wrapping and shipping these handsome Italian glass jars. I could do it myself, of course, but with liquid cargo like this, I’d rather leave packaging to the professionals. Actually, I'd rather always leave packing and shipping to someone else.

There’s still time for your gift recipients to receive some fantastic local maple syrup by Christmas time. Go to the Three Queens website to order: http://threequeensorganic.com/

Great idea for a thread. Three Queens looks excellent. I too like to send local foods and products to our out-of-town family. In the past, I've sent Intelligentsia coffee, which does some nice gift boxes these days. More recently, I sent the very tasty chocolate chip banana bread from Hungry Monkey, a small Lake Forest baking business.

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/
http://www.hungrymonkeybaking.com/

The indoor farmer's market is going to be open at the Ecology Center in Evanston this Saturday, and as far as I know every Saturday until Christmas. They have lots of local people selling there, including a local coffee roaster, somebody from Wisconsin that sells honey and maple syrup, and several bakeries.

BTW- There is somebody new there this year from Highland Park who is selling her own pie. It looked good, and she told me that she was selling the pie that she had on display for $20. She said that she sold at some farmer's markets this last summer, but the Evanston market is the only one she is selling at this winter. She said in general her pies are more savory than Mama Hoosier's. She had never heard of LTH, and she was going to look us up. Hope this helps, Nancy

Does candy count as food?

If so, Vosges.

Co-op hot sauce/salsa/BBQ sauce?

http://coopsauce.com/

West Loop Salumi
http://www.westloopsalumi.com/

And to plug a non-local small business (brother-in-law's company), especially if you are sending to someone in California,
Corsa Wines and coffee
http://www.corsawine.org

While not exclusively local, there is a thread to check as well: Made only at Christmas

Not locally made, but locally available: Lots of food related gifts at World Market. They also have baskets, shreddings, and cellophane and bows so you can also make your own quick gift baskets. They have other cooking items too so you can put together a gift pretty quickly for someone that is food related.

leek wrote:West Loop Salumi
http://www.westloopsalumi.com/

Excellent. Sorry I didn't think of that before I'd finished all my online holiday shoppping.

Crate & Barrel has treats from Long Grove Confectionery such as Cranberry Almond Myrtles on sale right now. Free shipping too!

Eataly! Here are a few of the many options that caught my eye: Several brands of carnaroli rice for anyone who likes risotto, 00 flours for anyone who makes pasta or pizza, Blis maple syrup, a fresh truffle (currently both black and white are available) for a very special person you know will use it soon, the aforementioned West Loop Salumi (they had marked bins for three different types but one was empty; obviously broader opening hours here than direct at WLS) and other artisinal charcuterie, a wide variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars (I like bringing these in wine bags as hostess gifts), and what must have been at least a dozen types of panettone scattered throughout the store.
Edited to acknowledge not all of my suggestions are locally-sourced (Chicago white truffles, anyone?), although I suspect that if one were to peruse the shelves long enough there would be regional surprises.

Smassey wrote:Eataly! Here are a few of the many options that caught my eye: Several brands of carnaroli rice for anyone who likes risotto, 00 flours for anyone who makes pasta or pizza, Blis maple syrup, a fresh truffle (currently both black and white are available) for a very special person you know will use it soon, the aforementioned West Loop Salumi (they had marked bins for three different types but one was empty; obviously broader opening hours here than direct at WLS) and other artisinal charcuterie, a wide variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars (I like bringing these in wine bags as hostess gifts), and what must have been at least a dozen types of panettone scattered throughout the store.
Edited to acknowledge not all of my suggestions are locally-sourced (Chicago white truffles, anyone?), although I suspect that if one were to peruse the shelves long enough there would be regional surprises.

Eataly's selection of stuff is breath-taking, and I'm told 70% of it is local...but, I've also heard from an out-of-state friend that there are some restrictions on where they'll ship within the U.S. Of course, if you're doing your own packing and shipping, no problem.

This has been mentioned on other threads, so I'm just stealing it, but stuff from the Spice House. They can make up any mixes you want, including hot cocoa blends, there are pre-boxed themed sets, fancy upscale things like truffle oil, fun extracts and flavorings and things.
The Spice House is still my favorite, but Penzey's in Oak Park was quite impressive, and the new place in Lincoln Square seemed very nice on my one visit.

If anyone brought me a gift of chocolate-coated gingerbread squares from Chriskindlmarkt, I'd be their friend for life. There's plenty of options there, although those gifts are not locally-made in all cases, they'd be purchased at a festive, annual Chicago market anyway.

On the candy thread I posted recently, there are also some good ideas, including marshmallons from Katherine Anne; on a recent gander I noticed they had peppermint and hot chocolate.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=38953

I received a promo email from the Trib for their "Chicago-made" store, so I clicked through to see what they had in the food category. Right now, the only item is a bloody Mary mix, but just in case anyone's interested, the site is http://www.chicagotribshops.com/chicago-made.html

You can also get 15 percent off your purchase using the code TRYCHICAGOMADE at check-out.

Publican Quality Meats has a lot of fun, interesting items for sale in their shop, many of which are made in or around Chicago. Last year, gifts I picked up included a bag of Intelligentsia Lucifer, some Publican Olive Oil, and some of Bill Kim's hot sauces.

Several locally made food gifts are available at the Andersonville Galleria. Holiday hours vary.

andersonvillegalleria.com
5247 N Clark, Chicago
773-878-8570

Bigfat's Hot Sauce
http://www.bigfatshotsauce.com/

Das Foods (salted caramels, gourmet salts, more)
http://www.dasfoods.com/

GrownUp KidStuff (chocolate sauce, caramel sauce)
http://www.grownupkidstuff.com/

Mama's Nuts
http://mamasnuts.com/

Salted Caramel (caramels, marshmallows, more)
http://saltedcaramel.net/

Terry's Toffee
(also at 1117 W. Grand, Chicago)
http://www.terrystoffee.com/index.php

For the pets of the family:

Paws Dog Bakery
http://www.pawsdogbarkery.com/

rober wrote:Co-op hot sauce/salsa/BBQ sauce?

http://coopsauce.com/

Don't forget one of Co-op's suppliers, Koval Distillery (Co-Op ages some of their sauces in used Koval barrels). Koval has a large number of single-grain spirits as well as some unusual liqueurs (ginger, rose hip, orange blossom, caraway).

My wife found a gift box of three small (200ml) bottles of Koval whiskey at World Market for around $50. They're supposed to carry small bottles at the distillery but they've been sold out for ages. We're going to split them up and put them in stockings for three friends.

Spencer's Jolly Posh sausages are brilliant. I've never had the back bacon or the black and white puddings but I'm sure they are great, too.

http://spencerfoods.com/

Job601 wrote:My wife found a gift box of three small (200ml) bottles of Koval whiskey at World Market for around $50. They're supposed to carry small bottles at the distillery but they've been sold out for ages. We're going to split them up and put them in stockings for three friends.

They have them (200ml bottles) at the distillery on a spotty basis (they had a bunch last week). Call first.