Eight hostess gifts for the food lover
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Hostess gifts for the foodie
Hostess gifts
As this spring long weekend approaches, chances are you'll be gathering with friends and family. It's customary to bring the host a small gift as a token of appreciation for offering up their space.
As always, a good bottle of wine will go a long way, but if you are looking beyond that, here are some great host gift ideas — suited particularly to your foodie friends!
Really good olive oil
There is cooking olive oil, and then there is finishing olive oil.
Finishing olive oils are of a higher quality, and have distinct flavours such as fruity, bitter or peppery. Go to a market where you can sample the oils and pick up a small bottle for your host (and yourself!).
Bread in a bread bag
Bring a fresh loaf of bakery (or homemade) bread in a natural linen bread bag. Bread bags do a great job of keeping your crusty breads fresh a little bit longer. The bread can be consumed right away, and the bag is for them to keep.
Fancy salts
There are gorgeous salts on the market these days. Classic finishing salts — such as maldon salt or fleur de sel — make great gifts, as do pink, black or flavoured salts. These 'fancy' salts are a great pantry item and will be appreciated.
Potted herbs
A window pot of fresh herbs is a perfect spring gift, and can be transplanted into the garden when things warm up. Basil, chives, thyme and rosemary make great indoor herbs.
Cool ice cube trays
With summer approaching, your hosts will appreciate some good, silicone ice cube trays. They come in a variety of shapes, from square to spherical and cylindrical, and are a fun way to dress up a drink.
Aged balsamic vinegar
Every cook has a staple bottle of balsamic vinegar in their pantry, but aged vinegars take things up a notch. Aged balsamic has a deep, rich flavour. As with olive oil, sample a variety of vinegars and choose one you like the flavour of.
Maple syrup
Small-batch maple syrups tend to be rich in colour and have unique flavours characteristic to their terroir. You can find small-batch maple syrups at specialty food stores.
Bitters
Bitters are popular right now amongst the cocktail mixing crowd. They also make a much more interesting gift then a bottle of wine (although no one is likely going to complain about getting a nice bottle of vino).
Breakfast
A box of fresh pastries for tomorrow morning. Tuck them away in a corner with a note, they're a great gesture for a tired morning, after a long night of hosting!
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