Heavy Table’s 2016 Local Food Gift Guide

It’s that time of year again — time to find the perfect gift / stocking stuffer / thank you / hostess item for all the wonderful people in your life. If you’re reading this, you probably love food, as do most of the people in your closest circle. Here are items for any price range, from “a little something” to “wow, I really do love you,” all with eating, drinking, and entertaining in mind.

All capsule reviews written by Amy Rea and James Norton.

The Appetizers: Gifts Under $10

Two Ravens Hopstopper Black IPA chocolate bar | $2 | Golden Fig
This Minneapolis-based chocolatier has the perfect stocking stuffer for the person in your life who’s a fan of both fine chocolates and craft beers: a bite-sized bar that’s a mixture of organic Peruvian cacao beans and hops. The result is the best of both worlds; there’s a rich chocolate taste along with a more citrusy hoppiness.

Tom Bumble Nutty Bar | $2.50 | France 44
It’s small but mighty, and pretty much what Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups could only dream of becoming. Peanut butter along with peanuts, vanilla, chocolate, and sea salt give a wide variety of sweet and savory flavors and a mix of textures.

Cloth napkins | $4 each | El Burrito Mercado
Who says the holidays have to be primarily red? Change the holiday table up with these cheery, festive cloth napkins.

Obviously Delicious | $5.59 | Surdyk’s Cheese Shop
This may be the friendliest-looking item in this guide. It’s essentially a turtle bar without the cloying cuteness of the turtle shape. The focus instead is on creating a thick, rich bar full of sea-salt caramel and pecans that is then dipped in chocolate (both dark and milk available). It’s not overly sweet, but has a richness missing from most commercial candy bars.

Fine Cheese Co. Charcoal Black Crackers | $6 | Surdyk’s Cheese Shop
These crackers will provide a nice color contrast on your holiday table. Made with charcoal powder (just a little, affecting the color but not the flavor), these are buttery little cookies, not so much crispy as crumbly. The butter flavor is delicate enough so that it does not overwhelm any cheese you choose to pair the crackers with.

Sponsored by Gorkha Palace: Gorkha Palace offers two gifts that are perfect for holiday giving. The first is a spicy Chili Chutney. It’s a hot and sour blend of jalapeño, serrano and Thai chilies mixed with Indian spices and organic lemon juice. It’s perfect with everything from omelets to fried rice to curries to noodles to guacamole to cheese and crackers! Gorkha Palace also sells The Nourishing Ghee, made in small batches in the kitchen of the restaurant. Ghee is a staple of Indian cooking. It lasts much longer than butter, has a splendid aroma, and makes food taste much more flavorful. Chutney and ghee are available at the restaurant or the Mill City Winter Market.

Casa Madaio Tozzetti di Bufala crackers | $6 |  Surdyk’s Cheese Shop
You could use these crackers as a base for cheese, and they’d be lovely, but they’re also a perfect little snack on their own. Made of flour, white wine, buffalo butter, and salt, they’re mild in flavor but still have a sweetness and a hint of nuttiness that’s appealing by itself.

Biking Viking Chocolate Bars | Milk with Cardamom $7; Dark With Coffee $13 | Ingebretsen’s
This three-way partnership comprised of Minneapolis’ Peace Coffee, B.T. McElrath Chocolatiers, and Scandinavian retailer Ingebretsen’s, brings us a most satisfying pair of products, themed around the metro’s favorite form of transportation. The chocolate bars come in two flavors, milk chocolate with cardamom and dark chocolate infused with Peace Coffee. The coffee itself is a medium roast with a lightly smoky flavor.

Terroir Chocolate bars | $7 | Golden Fig
There’s some serious chocolate-making going on in Fergus Falls. Using the bean-to-bar approach, Terroir makes a wide range of chocolate bars, with everything from Basil Raspberry White Chocolate to Scorpion Pepper Dark Chocolate. The Cardamom Krumkake, made with 60 percent cacao dark milk chocolate, still provides some of that earthy dark chocolate flavor balanced with the sweetness of a bit of milk and cardamom, and just a bit of crunch from the Scandinavian holiday cookie.

Sponsored by K’ul Chocolate: K’ul Chocolate of Minneapolis offers two products that are perfect for the holidays: a variety pack (which comes gift-wrapped and is available online) and chocolate-dipped fruit. The fruit includes orange peel, ginger, apricot, and fig and is sold by the pound and packaged in a cello bag with ribbon. It’s available only at the K’ul Store, 2211 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis.

Formaticum Cheese Bags |  $7 | Surdyk’s Deli
Manufactured in France and using professional-quality, two-ply paper, Formaticum simultaneously allows cheese to breathe while maintaining humidity levels so the cheese doesn’t dry out, similar to the way a cheese cave works. A great stocking stuffer for the cheese-lover in your life.

Madi’s Biscotti | $7.50 | Surdyk’s Deli
Minneapolis-based Madi’s produces these bags of sweet and savory biscotti, and they’re a treat. Not as rock-hard crunchy as some biscotti, these have some crispness to them, but also a bit of chewiness. Each package’s flavor is handwritten on the label, and the date they were baked is on the back. The citrus-pistachio had a light sweetness with just a touch of lemon cutting through.

Katherine Anne Confections marshmallows | $8 | Surdyk’s Deli
These marshmallows bear virtually no resemblance to the Stay Puft varietal at the grocery store. Katherine Anne’s are almost impossibly fluffy and delicate, but they pack a lot of flavor, and not just of the sugary kind. A brown-sugar-grapefruit marshmallow is sweet with a little sour tang and would be a perfect addition to a cup of hot tea.

Small Plates: Gifts $10-$25

Scandinavian Butter | $10 | Golden Fig
Sold under the Golden Fig label, this butter is made from Hope Creamery butter with lingonberries, cardamom, and vanilla bean. It’s delectable on its own, but if eating butter from the jar seems a bit over the top, feel free to spread it on anything you’d normally spread butter on — toast, bread, muffins, scones, or other pastries. It would probably be good even on popcorn.

Coffee Mug | $10 | El Burrito Mercado
Warm up your holiday table with these bright, cheerful mugs from Mexico. Midwest winters call for hearty hot beverages, and these vessels are up to the task of holding them.

Serving Platter | $10 | El Burrito Mercado
This striking blue-and-white platter would be an attractive centerpiece on a mostly white table. Fill with appetizers or heap with ornaments.

Terroir Chocolate Maple Toffee | $10 | Golden Fig
A maple-syrup-based toffee that uses chocolate nibs for the crunch rather than nuts? Yes, please, and several boxes if possible.

Hidden Ridge Cashew Crunch | $10 | France 44
Sweet and wonderfully crunchy — don’t try to have a conversation with anyone while munching on these — this brittle is made by Amish families on kerosene stoves. It just goes to show you don’t always need the higher-tech equipment to get results.

Sponsored by Northern Clay Center: With the advancement of ceramic arts as its mission, this not-for-profit art center has grown over the last 25 years to have an impact both locally and globally. In addition to year-round artists, Northern Clay Center is now showing the work of special-guest holiday artists. Whether it’s artful and affordable tableware you crave, or a one-of-a-kind piece to impress, NCC has it and will gladly wrap it for you.

Ceramic Bird Mugs  | $10 each | Ingebretsen’s
What better way to celebrate the winter holidays than with these cheerful mugs, each adorned with some of our avian residents? Choose chickadees, cardinals, or nuthatches.

Biscotti Belgian Dark Ale | $10 | Lift Bridge
One of our favorite local beer releases is timed and themed perfectly for the holidays – it’ll be in stores next week. Malty, rich, gently sweet and stoutly alcoholic without being barleywine strength, Biscotti’s a hostess gift that any beer lover is likely to enjoy.  We’ll be judging cookies at this year’s Biscotti release party, cookie contest, and potters show at the Lift Bridge Brewery on Saturday, so come on out and join us (and chefs from Smalley’s, Phil’s Tara Hideaway, and more) for a great many sweet treats.

Sweet Goddess Espresso Sea Salt Bark | $11 | Golden Fig
Bloomington’s Sweet Goddess Espresso Sea Salt Bark is a bestseller for Golden Fig. It’s an addictive blend of dark chocolate, pungent espresso, and sea salt, combined with its crunch and snap, make it a most satisfying treat.

American Spoon Pumpkin Seed Salsa | $11 | France 44
No, this is not a leftover from pumpkin spice season. Instead, toasted pumpkin seeds are the star here, along with chile de arbol, tomatoes, and red bell peppers. It’s got a bit of a kick, but nothing to scare anyone away.

Peter’s Yard Crispbread | $12 | Surdyk’s Deli
A traditional Scandinavian crispbread, shaped bagel-like with a hole in the middle. These are thin and shatteringly crispy, and could be used as the base for a variety of other foods: cheese, of course, but don’t stop there. Think olive spreads or roasted vegetables or meats. Snack or meal — your choice.

Bees Knees Spicy Honey | $13 | Surdyk’s Deli
If you like your sweet to come with a bit of heat, this is for you. Made only of wildflower honey and chilis, this gives a one-two punch of flavors and would be great on anything from cornbread and biscuits to more unusual partners, like ice cream.

Beurre de Baratte | $13 | Surdyk’s Deli
If someone on your gift list doesn’t understand that no two butters are the same, this will be an education for them. Beurre de Baratte is no ordinary butter; it’s hand-churned and molded after being allowed to rest for several hours, giving it the chance to develop more flavor than most commercially produced butters.

Wei Organic Shallot Oil | $13.50 | France 44
The shallots are fried before being infused in the oil, giving the oil a toasty flavor that works well in its traditional use in Vietnamese foods. The oil is also great in a vinaigrette or tossed with roasted vegetables, chicken, or fish.

Duluth Coffee Company Coffee | $14-50 for a one-pound bag | online or at the DCC Cafe in Duluth
We were initially intrigued by Duluth Coffee Company because its founder, Eric Faust (above right), was a regular contributor to the Heavy Table. We became sold on the coffee because it is thoughtfully sourced and skillfully roasted. We bring it with us when we travel and sling it around for gifts. Plus, the beans come in full one-pound bags — you’ve gotta love that.

Cheese from the Wedge Community Co-op | $14.50-$24 a pound
One of the many ways in which Minnesotans are blessed is the generous cheese selection available at our local co-ops. We stopped by the Wedge to see what we might be able to throw together for a holiday cheese plate and came up with three great local choices with just about zero effort: the creamy, funky, tangy North Fork Munster from Redhead Creamery, The Lone Grazer’s buttery, earthy Hansom Cab, and the insanely hot habanero-spiked Rattlesnack Cheddar from Deer Creek.

Smoked Fish | $15 and up | Northern Waters Smokehaus
There may be no food more emblematic of this part of the world than smoked fish, and there may be no one smoking it more beautifully than the team at Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth. The company’s website offers everything from smoked lake trout from Lake Superior to smoked salmon pate, so dig in.

Handmade Flour Sack Towels | $15 each | Golden Fig
These bright, sturdy flour sack towels are not only useful and long-lasting, they’re cheerful and eye-catching. Put them in your own kitchen, or use them to wrap a hostess gift.

Sponsored by J. Carver Distillery: Distilled in Waconia, Minn., Sevilla is a wheat whiskey-based liqueur made using locally produced grains with the addition of fresh orange peel and natural vanilla bean aged in Minnesota barrels. A touch of sweetness allows this spirit to be enjoyed straight, on the rocks — and it allows the mixologist to create myriad cocktails including the Old Fashioned. (80 proof) www.jcarverdistillery.com

Big Spoon Roasters Almond Ginger | $15 | France 44
There’s almond butter, but then there’s almond butter with crystallized ginger from Big Spoon Roasters. The zingy ginger cuts through the sweetness of the nut butter, and the result can be used anywhere you’d use peanut butter, including as the base for an Asian sauce.

Kitchen Cloths | $15 each | Forage Modern Workshop
These cheerful, sturdy linen kitchen cloths add a bright touch to any kitchen and will soften with each wash. Each one has a cotton loop for hang-drying.

Blank Slate flavored simple syrups | $16 each | Golden Fig
Sure, you can — and should — make a basic simple syrup yourself at home, easy-peasy. But Blank Slate takes the simple syrup concept a bit farther by infusing their palm-sugar liquids with additional ingredients. The bird’s eye chili syrup has an initial sugary syrup taste, quickly followed by a fiery counterpart. It would be an excellent addition to cocktails and desserts that would benefit from a savory touch. Other flavors include vanilla and black pepper.

Rancho Gordo Chocolate | $16 | Surdyk’s Deli
The fine folks behind dried heirloom beans now have chocolate tablets sourced from small farmers and producers in Mexico. The cacao is roasted in a clay pan over a wood fire, then stone ground with unrefined sugar and cinnamon. It can be used for anything from a rich sipping chocolate to a homemade mole.

Rustichella Pistachio Paste | $16 | France 44
Think of this as an intensely high-grade nut butter, where the pistachios are mixed with a quality extra-virgin olive oil, giving it a somewhat sweet taste and decadent, buttery texture.

Miniature Soup Tureen with Cover and Spoon | $17.50 | El Burrito Mercado
What could be more charming than individual soup tureens, complete with covers and spoons? Nothing says special like “This is for you, and you alone.”

Carr’s Ciderhouse Cider Vinegar | $18 | Golden Fig
It’s a shame that wine turned bad is often described as having turned to vinegar. That’s a slander undeserved by this cider vinegar, which is produced in small, numbered batches in an heirloom orchard in Massachusetts. The resulting product, while tangy, is a tad sweeter than regular cider vinegar and will bring that touch of sweetness to any dish.

Runamok Syrups | Sugarmaker’s Cut $18; Elderberry and Pecan Wood Smoked, $21.50 each | France 44
Besides the cheeky name, Runamok’s syrups have some interesting twists on maple syrup, including a smoked variety. The flavor combination is not just a fancy; open the bottle, and the first scent that whiffs out is smoke. The result is, not surprisingly, as delicious as maple syrup poured over pancakes and bacon. The company also does syrups aged in rum, rye, and bourbon barrels.

Col Pabst Worcestershire Sauce | $18 | France 44
“You can drink this right from the bottle,” said the France 44 employee of this Worcestershire sauce from Milwaukee. We might have wondered why anyone would want to do that, but decided to take it as a dare, and what do you know? While you wouldn’t want to swig down a bottle at one sitting, this is not your grocery-store Worcestershire sauce. It’s made with beer, tamarind, Madras curry, and cinnamon sticks, and is much more smoothly flavorful than regular Worcestershire. It would add a wonderful depth to Bloody Mary mixes, meat marinades, and soups. Or, you know, just drink it straight out of the bottle.

Sponsored by Lift Bridge Brewery: Stop by Lift Bridge Brewery’s taproom in Stillwater, and buy some swag for that special someone, and a growler to share for the holidays. When the growler is empty, you can sign up for a free tour of the brewery online at www.liftbridgebrewery.com, and get that growler refilled.

Dick Taylor Chocolate Drinks | $18 each | France 44
Drinking chocolates seem to be a thing this year, with various iterations showing up at retailers. Dick Taylor’s comes three ways: single origin from Ecuador, single origin from Belize, and peppermint. Make no mistake, these are not kin to the instant hot cocoa mixes with dried-up marshmallows that don’t rehydrate. Instead, they have a full and decadent chocolate taste, and the mixes could be used for other purposes such as for making mochas or adding a chocolaty undercurrent to a pot of chili.

Big Sheet Pan | $18 | Nordic Ware Factory Store
Sometimes the best gift for the holidays is something to help the recipient celebrate the holidays with even more intensity. Take, for example, The Big Sheet Pan by Nordic Ware. Its generous dimensions (35 percent bigger than a typical half sheet pan) makes mega batches of cookies but still fits standard ovens.

Porcelain Spoons | $10.50-$27 | Forage Modern Workshop
Sleek and lighter in weight than you might expect, this collection of porcelain spoons is pleasing to the eye and highly functional. Put them on your own holiday table, or wrap up one or more in a kitchen towel as a gift.

Eight-Piece Winter Honey Bon-Bon Set | $19 | Mademoiselle Miel
Saint Paul rooftop honey is the not-so-secret ingredient that flavors this chocolate collection, which includes two each of Orange with Peel, Ginger-spiced Chai, Maple Caramel, and Warm Cherry Honey bonbons.

Hekla Candle | $19 | Ingebretsen’s
What better representation of Minnesota’s Scandinavian heritage than this candle, with its Scandinavian knitted sweater motif? Like a bulky Nordic sweater, the candle is large and sturdy and will provide warmth for a good long while.

Bare Honey | $20 | Golden Fig
St. Paul’s Bare Honey is exactly what its name implies: pure, unadulterated honey, no chemicals, carefully harvested by beekeepers who are diligent about preserving and expanding the honeybee population. No wonder it tastes so sweet.

Boska Cheese Kit | $20 | Surdyk’s Deli
For the cheese lover in your life who’s always been curious about the process of making cheese. This kit has everything needed to make 15 batches of mozzarella. Add-on kits allow home cooks to make other soft cheeses as well as butter.

Milk Street Magazine Subscription | $20
The release of the charter issue of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street magazine was a highlight for us in 2016 (admittedly a rough year in most other respects). Kimball’s focus and intellect are unbowed since his departure from America’s Test Kitchen and may, in fact, have been liberated by the new format. A great gift for any serious home cook.

Oven Bacon Pan | $22 | Nordic Ware Factory Store
Nordic Ware’s Oven Bacon Pan takes a good idea (baking, rather than sauteeing your bacon) and perfects it. Grease drains away thanks to the design, and hot air circulates so there is no need to turn your rashers.

Sponsored by Taste of Scandinavia Bakery: For almost 25 years our local, family-owned business has been baking up traditional recipes the good old fashioned way — from scratch! That means a lot of butter, sugar, flour, and hand-cracked eggs. During the holidays, we get so excited as we hear from our customers planning their celebrations and ordering their favorites for their family and friends. From Jule Kage, Kransekake, Authentic Potato Lefse (real potatoes and cream, and an array of cookies that do not allow you stop at one. Our made-from-scratch cookies include Almond Kringler (pictured), Holly Berry Sandwiches, Ginger Hearts, Spiced Shortbread Angels, Butter Pecan, Russian Teacakes, Lemon Zest, White Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints, Rugelach, and new this year our Merrydoodle and Kriskrinkle Scoop Cookies. Our bakery and cafe locations can be found in Bloomington, Little Canada, and North Oaks.  All three locations offer a full menu for dining in or to go — breakfast all day, lunch, and dinner. We are proud to bake and prepare food that tastes as great as it looks!

Homemade by Beatrice Ojakangas | $23 | University of Minnesota Press
Beatrice Ojakangas is the dean of Minnesota’s Scandinavian-inspired home cookery experts, and that’s saying something. Her latest work, Homemade, is packed with anecdotes, recipes, and reflections. You can meet the author and have your book signed on Dec. 15 from 1-2 p.m. at Ingebretsen’s.

Hell’s Kitchen Holy Trinity Peanut Butter Trio Set | $23
Lovers of Hell’s Kitchen’s justifiably famous peanut butter will be thrilled by this collection of three 8-ounce jars of the stuff; people who don’t love it obviously haven’t yet tried it, and this is the perfect opportunity.

Kid’s Trays | Numbers $24; Cutlery $28 | Forage Modern Workshop
These simple, sturdy plastic trays can take the abuse a toddler can give them and still look adorable. They’re perfect for those just starting to learn numbers or to use various pieces of tableware.

Festive Entrees: Gifts $25-$50

Danish Iron Candle Holder | $26 | Ingebretsen’s
Simple, sleek, elegant. The Danish iron candle holder can stand alone as a decoration, or you could combine it with colorful table linens or other holiday decor to create a captivating centerpiece for your table. Other shapes and sizes available for varying prices.

Triangle V Trivet | $26 | Forage Modern Workshop
Made of cast stone with a cork bottom, these trivets also work as modules. Buy multiples to fit together top to bottom to protect your table from heated dishes during your holiday dinner.

Ori Pepper Grinder | $29 | Forage Modern Workshop
This sleek, pentagonal grinder comes from the Norwegian design team of Anderssen Voll. It contains an adjustable ceramic grinder that can produce either coarse or fine grinds, and works well with both peppercorns and sea salt. Also available in light grey.

Peppermint Bark | $30 for 14.5 ounces | Annie B’s
Minnesota-made candy that packs a surprising amount of depth: white and dark chocolates complement each other, and both are enhanced by the liberal sprinkling of crushed peppermint candy that coats each square. There might be a more holiday-appropriate candy out there, but we can’t think of it.

Tea of the Month Club | $30 a month | Verdant Tea
The folks at Verdant Tea have been importing and brewing seriously thoughtful flavors for years now, and their Tea of the Month Club offers a fascinating gateway into some of the best and most unusual teas that China has to offer. Verdant works with small family tea farmers in China, and each month is represented by a different grower. We tried the November box, which included white teas aged for three years and / or picked exclusively from buds. The flavors were layered, complex, and often (surprisingly) rich and creamy.

Sponsored by Pazzaluna: For every $100 in gift cards you purchase at Pazzaluna you will receive five $20 promotional cards, one each for The St. Paul Grill, M ST. Cafe, The Lobby Bar, Tria, and Kendall’s Tavern & Chophouse. The gift card promotion is available through Dec. 31, 2016. Promotional cards are valid Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2017.

Frescobaldi Laudemio Olive Oil | $30 | France 44
This highly regarded extra-virgin olive oil from Tuscany is no shrinking violet. A bright, peppery flavor rises first, followed by a lingering, pleasantly grassy flavor. This is a lovely gift that should be used in foods where olive oil can have a starring role or be the finishing touch, drizzled over grilled meats or stews.

Plover Oven Mitt | $30 | Ingebretsen’s
The stalwart plover stands against a soft geometric pattern on this attractive oven mitt. During the holidays, there’s no shortage of overly cute kitchen textiles, but this mitt brings some dignity back to the kitchen, and it can remain there long after the holidays have passed.

Figgy Pudding | $35 ($9 for a pint of brandy hard sauce) | Surdyk’s Deli
The prototypical English Christmas dessert, immortalized in song and celebrated by popular culture, has arrived in Minnesota — and done correctly, too. This is no grocery-store clunker of a fruitcake — it’s a substantial, homemade confection made with organic baking ingredients and rum- and brandy-soaked figs, golden raisins, cherries, and cranberries. The optional but highly recommended hard sauce brings this up from a casual hostess gift or teacake into the realm of serious dessert for 8-10. Prep is a snap. Wrap in foil, and heat for 20-25 minutes at 350°F, and then spoon on some cold hard sauce, which will melt over the cake. The result: a warm, spiced, boozy, fruity hug of a dish – is our new favorite Yuletide flavor.

Raven Apron | $38 | Ingebretsen’s
As with the oven mitt, aprons can be a hot mess of holiday excess this time of year. That’s why this simple apron with its raven motif stands out as a piece of elegant sanity. And like the oven mitt, it can remain in the kitchen after the holidays.

Boska Cheese Curler | $39 | Surdyk’s Deli
Why slice your cheese when you can curl it instead? Use the curler to make delicate curls that will impress your guests and make them feel like you went to great lengths for them. Bonus: The curler works on chocolate as well.

North Coast Nosh Tickets | $40 | Heavy Table
The Heavy Table’s North Coast Nosh returns Feb. 16, 2017, this time sipping and sampling at the gorgeous Food Building in Northeast Minneapolis, with support from the Wedge Community Co-op. Expect more than 20 purveyors and an event that features quality product, friendly purveyors, and a felicitous guest-to-artisan ratio that means you can actually learn a little something while you eat and drink to your heart’s content. Tickets are quite limited, and are available via Eventbrite.

Pottery | Various | Northern Clay Center
We’re big fans of the Northern Clay Center, which is part art gallery, part teaching space, part retail shop. It offers visitors a chance to browse a ridiculously varied array of pottery handmade by artists both local and national. Theme, price, and practicality varies from piece to piece, but we’ve always managed to find a one-of-a-kind item to impress, and we love that NCC’s stuff sits so squarely at the intersection of art and craft and decorative and useful.

Costa Rica Las Lajas Micromill Honey Series of Coffees | $45 for three 12-ounce bags | Tiny Footprint Coffee
Local coffee roasters Tiny Footprint are offering a package that would make an ideal gift for serious coffee fans: three bags of coffee processed in manner known as miel (honey in French) or pulped natural. The skin of the coffee cherry is pulped leaving most of the fruit intact before it is dried on raised screens. As per the Tiny Footprint website: “When done well, honey processed coffees are more complex with viscous body and softer acidity; the trade off being a reduction in acidity and some loss of clarity.”

Breakfast Lover’s Holiday Gift Package | $45 | Wise Acre Eatery
Wise Acre has made its name by bringing quality, locally produced food into the city, and this breakfast-centric gift package is an extension of that philosophy. It includes a half-pound of house-made granola, an 8-ounce container of Walsh Ride Maple Syrup from Pepin County, Wis., a 6-ounce jar of Tangletown Farm honey, 2 dozen pasture-raised Tangletown Farm eggs, and a choice of breakfast meats — bacon, ham steak, or sausage links.

Fresh Roast Coffee Subscription Service | $48 for 3 months | Dunn Bros.
Local coffee drinkers know that Dunn Bros. can be relied upon for a solidly crafted cup of Joe. That craftsmanship will no doubt shine through in the company’s new coffee subscription service. Gifters can choose quantity, roast level, and number of months and then send giftees on a caffeinated journey around the world.

Abbey Cake | $50 | 3½ pounds | The Jampot
This is the fruitcake to end all fruitcake: a bourbon-blessed monk-made confection featuring dark raisins, walnuts, and molasses. It’s moist and delectable. Properly wrapped, it stays wholesome for months and will get you through the holiday season — and the whole winter, for that matter — in good spirits.

Sponsored by the Nordic Ware Factory Store: For this holiday season, bake a Cranberry Santa Loaf in the Nordic Ware Santa’s Sleigh Loaf Pan, then carry it to a party in Nordic Ware’s new loaf cake keeper, sized just right for many loaf bread recipes. Find more holiday gifts and ideas at the Nordic Ware Factory Store, a family-owned, American manufacturer of quality cookware, bakeware, microwave and grilling products, and specialty kitchenware — now celebrating its 70th anniversary. The Factory Store in St. Louis Park is frequented by home cooks, chefs, and restaurant owners, and it hosts twice-monthly evening classes. 4925 Highway 7, St. Louis Park; 952.924.9672; www.nordicware.com.

Tasting Menu with Wine Pairing: Gifts Over $50

Local Crate Gift Subscription | $54-$96
We’ve been digging the kit meals from Local Crate that we’ve added to our homemade / take-out / delivery rotation. They’re reasonably quick and easy, use quality local food, and often teach a technique or ingredient that is new to our repertoire. A gift (anything from $54 for 4 servings up to $96 for 8 servings) can be a welcome introduction for a friend or family member, and a nice way to help a burgeoning home cook polish his or her chops with some good local grub.

“Everything Northeast” Gift Box  | $60 | Draft Horse
This is our kind of gift box – a Food Building-heavy collection that includes 1/4 lb. Lone Grazer Northeazy cheese, Red Table Meat Co. Caliber Salami, a voucher for bread or stone-milled flour from Baker’s Field, Beez Kneez Creole Mustard, 10oz bag of Spyhouse Division Fair Trade and Organic Coffee, and a Dangerous Man Mini Growler and fill.

Homegrown Foods Organic Meal Delivery | $60+
Like Local Crate, Homegrown Foods stresses connections to local purveyors and restaurants, and presents inventive and relatively straightforward meal kits for its subscribers. And unlike Local Crate, Homegrown Foods supplies the recipes for what you’re making, which can save you some reverse engineering time. Pictured above: chicken pot pies that featured some of the tastiest, flakiest crust we’ve yet experienced on this dish, plus the innovative idea of using chicken thighs rather than breasts (they have a richer flavor and taste moister after a long bake.)

Multi-piece serving tray | $50 | El Burrito Mercado
This large tray with removable bowls is ideal for casual, appetizer-based gatherings. Fill the bowls with a variety of dips and spreads without the worry of any of them melting into their neighbors.

Bitters Variety Pack | $57 | Bittercube
Bittercube makes cunningly compounded, artfully balanced bitters that enhance any cocktail they touch. A variety pack of six different bitters is enough to keep a home barkeep happily busy for at least a calendar year, at which point there’s always the option of giving them another variety pack. …

Sponsored by Nan’s Naughty and Nice: Nan’s Naughty And Nice is the perfect gift this year for the Bloody Mary lover in your life. Nan’s is all natural and gluten free, and it pairs well with vodka and beer. www.nansnaugthtyandnice.com

Black and White Marbled Enamelware Serving Pieces | Medium Basin, $26; Benson Basin, $72 | Forage Modern Workshop
These enameled metal serving pieces, available in black and white or blue and white, will give your holiday table a new spin on festive decor. The colorful pieces are sturdy and are available in a wide range of sizes. They’re capable of being used on the stove or in the oven to keep things warm. Or fill the basin with ice to keep your beverages cold. Matching mugs are available.

Cider Sampler | $75 | Urban Forage
The team at Urban Forage is turning city fruits into delicious wines and ciders, and pushing the boundaries on what “local” means in the process. Urban Forage’s sampler pack surveys their whole year of production and includes six 375-milliliter bottles of cider (semisweet cider, dry cider, apricot cider, pear cider, cherry cider, and mead). It’s available only at their shop on East Lake Street.

Horn-Handled Butter Spreader | $79 | Ingebretsen’s
This beautiful spreader was handmade by Bengt Westberg. The carved handle comes from reindeer horn and feels solid yet compact in your hand. It could bring a sense of gravitas to the simple act of spreading butter on bread.

Proteak Cutting Board | $148 | Cooks of Crocus Hill
This is as much a conversation piece as it is a practical piece of kitchenware. Teak is a renewable resource that’s also moisture-resistant and strong, making it an excellent choice for a cutting board. The board’s intricate checkered pattern is eye-catching and makes it a good choice for a serving tray as well. Various sizes and styles available.

Kenwood Electric Water Kettle | $150 | Cooks of Crocus Hill
A perfect gift for the hot-beverage enthusiast in your life. This kettle doesn’t just heat water — it heats water to a specific temperatures, depending on the beverage you’re brewing. This will get your water to 158°F for white tea or 185°F for oolong, and it has five other settings. Also: Protection against boiling dry.

Gray French Press | $150 | Forage Modern Workshop
A beautiful matte finish on this ceramic press gives it a quiet elegance. It holds 8 cups, and its ceramic body helps it maintain a consistent temperature throughout the brewing process. The press includes a fine-mesh steel filter and ca opper pull, and comes with brewing instructions.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative Membership | $200
Few gifts have more impact or cred than granting someone a piece of an (excellent) working brewery. Fair State Brewing Cooperative members receive a host of benefits and are part of a craft beer movement that has utterly remade the local culinary scene. And as long as we’re talking about Fair State and holiday giving, stop by the brewery from 1-6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17 to attend the Craft Condiment Market, featuring assorted locally made hot sauces, krauts, mustards, ketchups, and more.

Dualit Toaster | $260 for two-slice, $340 for four-slice | Cooks of Crocus Hill
Part retro, part spaceship, the classic toasters from Dualit are stylish enough that they deserve a permanent place on the kitchen counter rather than being buried away in a cupboard or under a cozy. There’s a defrost setting, and Dualit promises that replacement parts and repairs will be available for the life of the toaster.

Hand-Carved Wooden Bowl | $300 | Ingebretsen’s
This gorgeous, meticulously hand-carved wooden bowl can be functional — are instructions are included — but it can also stand alone as a striking piece of table art. Place it against a contrasting table linen, and let it shine on its own, or fill it with holiday decor. It’s a timeless piece that can be used year round, but it adds a particularly handsome touch to December festivities.

Cow Pool (Eighth Share) | $375 | Grass Fed Cattle Co.
There’s nothing quite like a big gift that gives right back to yourself. An eighth share of a cow from Grass Fed Cattle Co. is 44 pounds of grass-fed beef, a perfect amount to split between yourself and a good friend (or between yourself and three friends, if you’re OK with everyone receiving a mere 11 pounds of quality meat. This is the definition of “going big,” and will no doubt spawn countless thank-you barbecues, steak nights, and other pay-it-forward moments.

Chef Camp | Sept. 1-3, 2017 | $600 for an all-inclusive ticket
Inevitably, we arrive at the point in life where more stuff just feels like … more stuff. Those looking to skip the bulky boxes and give an (unforgettable) experience can pick up a ticket to Chef Camp, an immersive, Northwoods food retreat that runs Sept. 1-3, 2017. (Chef Camp is a project co-created by Heavy Table’s editor, James Norton.)