Do you need a gift for a discerning historic gastronomist this holiday season? Well, I got ya covered. Here are two stores that will please the palate of your favorite foodie.
The Meadow is a fine food store that specializes in salt, chocolate and bitters. In fact, that’s pretty much all they sell. Trust me, it’s awesome.
They’ve got outposts in New York and on the west coast, but you can order online here. For this holiday season, they recommend:
Scrappy’s Bitters Gift Set – For the cocktail connoisseur, Seattle based bitters producer Scrappy’s has assembled the perfect gift sets, $28 each.
- 4-Pack Mini of Lime, Orange, Celery, Lavender. Here>>
- 4-Pack Mini of Orange, Chocolate, Cardamom, Grapefruit. Here>>
Xocolatl de David Raleigh Bar – The best stocking-stuffer for candy lovers who happen to be grown ups—a sort of Snickers bar made with superb ingredients and serious love. Classic, bacon, and bourbon varieties available. Get the El Dorado, all three, wrapped up nicely for $9. Here>>
Askinosie Drinking Chocolate – One of the true craft drinking chocolates—that’s hot cocoa, but with the precious, voluptuous cocoa butter still inside—made right here in the USA. $16. Here>>
A few more suggestions are below.
From a store that sells three things to a store that sells everything: Next time you’re in New York, check out Kalustyans. I’m not sure how to describe this place; perhaps as an ingredients store? The sell candy, bitters, sauces, flavorings, spices, flours, dried fruit…it’s a wonderland of delicious, often hard-to-find foods. They were even recommended in the new book Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All as the go-to place for exotic spices to make cocktail bitters. You can also shop online here.
Anything purchased here is sure to please the historian, cook, or gastronome in your life. But if you’re still at a loss, sign up for the Brooklyn Brainery’s DIY Gifts for Your Foodie Friends workshop, and make your own holiday treat!
This is AMAZING! I was wondering if FPF could make a page of all the cookbooks you have and maybe a star next to your favorites. (I’ve got foodies that are cookbook hounds.) Of course, in your spare time ;)
Now there’s an idea…I wonder how I could organize that. I could start a tumblr, but I’d need to order it alphabetically and chronologically, and I’d have to be able to add to it easily.
You’ve got all kinds of expansion plans for me, Kristina.
I’m imagining the look on my wife’s face when I came home with six varieties of bitters and half a candied citron. It wouldn’t be surprise, I don’t think. Long-suffering bemusement, maybe…
Ha!! She’s a good woman. Kalustyan’s also has a respectable bitters assortment; one stop shop!
Let me say, Kalustyans has been my favorite food porn shop for years… I never leave it without taking something new and exciting away from it… how could I have missed that citron!! I think your list is brilliant! Have a good holiday, Sarah!
It’s an amazing place; and I hadn’t even heard of it before six months ago! I was looking for a spice to make bitters with: Grains of Paradise. After some googling, they were the only place I could find that had it!
Happy holidays, Deana! make something good with that citron!
Next time you go to Kalustyan’s check out the plaque in the front window for a little known bit of American history.