Food And Drink Hamper Christmas Gift Guide | 2018

I always love going into department stores and looking at the beautifully made hampers which come out around Christmas. They are always full of loads of amazing products but tend to come with a pretty high price tag so this year I’ve decided to make my own. My parents are massive foodies so I’ve been on the search for the best goodies out there to cram inside and here are some of my picks.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, Gift Hampers UK offers a great selection of curated hampers for all occasions, with delivery available across the UK.

Konditor & Cook are a London bakery who might be best known for their cakes, but they do some great cookie bundles which work well in hampers. I had three sets including Cinnamon Stars*, Lemon Moons* (£6) and Kipferl Biscuits* (£5.50) which are all really tasty. My favourites were the Kipferl biscuits which are made from lightly toasted hazelnuts which are ground up with vanilla, sugar and butter so they have a nice nutty texture but are quite smooth.

Cinnamon Stars are a very traditional Christmas taste which is what makes them work so great in a hamper, and the lemon moons are a great contrast in taste with zesty lemon meringue icing keeping them sweet with a citrus twinge.

You can’t have a Christmas hamper without some Mince Pies* (£12) and these ones aren’t just any mince pies, The Telegraph have named them ‘The Best Mince Pies in Britain’. They’re made with the finest all-butter pastry and are filled with luxurious vegetarian mincemeat so they have a sweet buttery finish.

Opies Food are a family-owned food company based in Kent and I’ve got four picks from them; Pickled Walnuts, Peaches in Courvoisier, Stem Ginger in Syrup and Cocktail Cherries.

Pickled Walnuts* are a great pairing with cheese and cold meats which are staples around Christmas time, and Opies are the only commercial producer of pickled walnuts. Opies make them by cooking and marinating them in a special malt vinegar recipe and then they’re hand-packed into jars. Next up is Stem Ginger in Syrup* which is so versatile and works well in most sweet dishes like mixed with ice cream or in cakes and cookies.

If you’re doing a hamper for anyone who loves things which are hot and spicy make sure you add a bottle of Carolina Reaper Sauce* (£1.60) which is more than just a hot sauce, it’s a blow your head off sauce perfect for anyone who never finds food spicy enough.

The Carolina Reaper Chilli is more than 25 times hotter than the Piri Piri Chilli and according to the Guinness Book of World Record’s it’s officially the world’s hottest chilli pepper. This gives you a bit of an idea how spicy and hot it is but don’t take my word for it, grab a bottle and try for yourself.

Something my parents like to do a lot is buying gift vouchers and cards as presents and food gift cards are a staple for us. The average Brit eats out of the home 1.5 times a week spending up to £53 per meal so grabbing a gift card for a meal would be a great treat for anyone. The Dining Out Card is one which can be used in 18 of Mitchells and Butlers brands including Harvester, Toby Carvery, Miller & Carter Steakhouse and All Bar One so there’s plenty of choice.

You can top up anywhere from £5 and either get a physical card, or a voucher sent via email or text making it easier than ever to give the gift of food. Last Christmas me and Luke got one of these and saved it up along with another one to use against our anniversary meal at Miller and Carter which was incredible, and the vouchers allowed us to save some money when paying for the bill.

My family are huge coffee drinkers so a few bags of coffee beans have to feature in the hamper. I am a huge fan of Rombouts having worked with them a few times already so I knew they need to make an appearance in the hamper. The company work directly with coffee farmers to get the best quality coffee beans.

I picked two bags of ground coffee, the medium roast* (£4) and medium-dark roast* (£4) to include in the hamper as they’ve got a nice deep flavour and my family are all about dark, strong coffee. The Medium Roast comes from Cuba and has notes of caramel and cacao whereas the medium-dark comes from Laos and has hints of chocolate, nuts and peaches.

One thing which makes our Christmas is cheese, and we eat a lot of it, but alongside cheese, you need crispbreads and crackers to accompany them which is where Peter’s Yard comes in. This three pack of crispbreads are naturally low in fat which is great if you eat them in quantity like us at Christmas.

This trio box* (£6.95) features three sourdough crispbreads one with Spelt and Poppy Seeds, one with Charcoal and Rye and one original and each crispbread pairs well with different types of cheese. This box is a great way to try a few variations and work out what suits the cheeses you love most.

It wouldn’t be a proper Christmas hamper without some booze in it would it?! But what’s better than one bottle? A bottle every month, and that’s what you can get with The Summerton Club. The company are a premium spirits subscription box who send out an aged bottle to their members each month including Brandy, Rum and Whisky. The brand set themselves up after they were looking for the exact same thing for their dad at Christmas, realized there was a gap in the market so created something themselves.

You can get the box monthly or you can go for bi-monthly, quarterly etc  and I got the October Box* through which was a Limited Edition Swedish Single Malt Whisky. What was even more special about this box is that the Summerton Club members were the first in the UK to try the spirit. The presentation box which the Whisky came in was really good quality and I know it’s going to make a great addition to my Dad’s Christmas hamper.

It wouldn’t be a good hamper without some sweet treats, this part will be totally unique to the person you’re buying for. I opted for Liquorice Wheels* (£6.50) for the nostalgia factor as they just remind me of old sweetshops and while I’m personally not a liquorice fan I know some of my family are.

If you’re not a fan of liquorice check out the other confectionery items on offer from Sous Chef.

Jam is another must for any hamper or food-based gift. My auntie and nan use it for breakfast a lot and I love having some for when I fancy scones. We used the Mixed Berries and Lemon Thyme Jam*  (£3.95) when we did a DIY afternoon tea and it was so tasty as you got the traditional berry taste but the lemon just gave it that kick. This is the kind of jam which would work so well mixed in with your morning porridge.

For something I bit different I grabbed the Caramelised Apple and Rum Jam* (£3.95) because why not?! There’s only a little bit of rum so it isn’t massively boozey but it adds a nice mixture with the sweet apple. I finished off the set with some Mulled Orange Marmalade* (£2.95) which has a festive twist in it with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Fudge is a great option for hampers and this Lemon Meringue Fudge* (£3.45) is something I know my family will love as unlike me they’re not all about chocolate when it comes to sweet things. The taste of this is exactly the same as the dessert but this is a lot cleaner way of eating it with the sharp lemon taste and the creamy fudge texture.

The final bit I’ve got to add to my hamper is a selection of marzipan goodies* from Niederegger which came straight from their factory in Germany. The company are a family-run business so the secret of their marzipan has been handed down through the generations which is a nice touch.

There are so many different marzipan products from the classic chocolate covered marzipan and a marzipan chocolate Santa to an Apple Streusel and Mini Marzipan Loaves in a number of flavours.

You can grab the goodies from Chocolates Direct but they are also in a number of stores including Lakeland.

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