The Best Christmas Hampers

Regional Produce in a Box

The Gourmet Hamper as a Christmas Gift

With the increasing focus on growing your own produce, limiting your carbon footprint, and supporting local food networks, there has never been a better time to sample regional food.  The best way to sample regional food outside of visiting the actual area yourself is by having a gourmet hamper delivered to your door.  Browsing the internet there are a plethora a local gourmet providores who are capable of assembling a great gift basket package with a range of local tastes and shipping it to you wherever you may live.

Visit Hunter Valley Hampers for
our recommended Christmas Hampers.

Wine and Gourmet Gift Baskets are always popular and make an easy to share gift for family and friends.  Have a look for some of the latest variations on the theme, like wine picnic hampers, wine and cheese hampers and champagne hampers.  Wine picnic hampers would contain a selection of cheeses, fresh fruits, some fig paste, pate, perhaps some smoked salmon and some crackers.  Wine and cheese hampers have a cheese focus with perhaps a cutting board for the cheese, and a specialty cheese knife, amongst a broader range of local cheeses.  Champagne Hampers feature appetisers and nibbles approaching the beginning of the dining experience, like crackers and dip.

A themed hamper for an older couple would focus on jams, relish and condiments from the regional area.  There is a special something about having a pantry full of food products from a single locale, and with the slow use rate of condiments, the gift is present and still being consumed well into the third and forth months.   Be careful to include some food products ready to eat immediately as well as the longer shelf life products, otherwise on opening the gift there is a quiet moment where the recipients look at each other and then start to pack it all away in the pantry!

If you are struggling to find a resource for a local gourmet hamper supplier, take the time to browse around the local shops and ask when the next local markets are scheduled.  Once you are at the markets, it is simply a matter of wandering up and down the aisles and securing your products.  Be careful to keep the tastes unique, as it is easy to find yourself with several jars of similar style products - when what we want is diversity and samples of tastes.  Once you have the selection it is a matter of placing the jars in a suitable container and wrapping the goods for presentation.

As you can see, building a local gourmet hamper is as much a case of sourcing suitable product as it is building the gift basket.  Taking the time to do your research and putting your own unique twist on the material also lends the impression of a certain personal gift style.  Be confident and creative and focus on presentation and of course, your recipient, for a lasting, meaningful impact of regional produce in a box - the gourmet hamper.

Murphy, B. P. (2011, October 24). Regional Produce in a Box - The Gourmet Hamper. Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Regional-­Produce-­in-­a-­Box-­-­-­The-­Gourmet-­Hamper&id=6647513