Tackle Christmas gift-giving in style with help from some of Australia’s greatest chefs and producers, and global trailblazers in home technology and design. Whether you’re looking to brighten the day of the cook, the eater, the cheesemonger or chocolate lover in your life, these gift ideas have you covered.
Below, GT rounds up the top gourmet gifts for Christmas.
“Hey Google, show me cheesecake recipes.” Google Nest Hub Max is your hands-free helper in the kitchen. Search for thousands of recipes, get step-by-step instructions, add items to your shopping list and set timers — all with your voice. Cooking has never been so easy.
Google Nest Hub Max, $349
Brought to you by Google
Mud Australia’s handmade Baker dishes combine function and form. They’re big enough for lasagnes and roast vegetables, and come in six calming colours, making them ideal for oven-to-table presentation. The dishes are handmade and show up slight difference in size, glaze and texture – each dish is unique.
Mud Australia Baker dish, $168
Even inner-city folk can keep a vegie patch for their kitchen needs. Made to last a lifetime, this stainless steal dibbler is used for planting seeds and seedlings. It’s urban planting done right.
Little Veggie Patch Co LVPC Dibbler, $60
What’s a party without drinks? This chilli-sugar mix by Sydney brand Tasteology will add a pleasant sweet-spicy finish to your summer cocktails – dust on the rim of your cocktail glass, and you’re good to go. Plus you can adjust the granule size to suit your desired chilli-sugar texture.
Tasteology Chilli Sugar, $29, DesignStuff
Originally released in 2014, the bestselling cookbook by Hetty McKinnon of Arthur Street Kitchen is back, with 20 new recipes to boot. It’s the ideal cookbook come summer, with salad recipes including roasted sweet potato with lime cashew cream and roasted curry cashews; and whole roasted cauliflower with toasted farro and romesco sauce. Summer is time for salads, and this cookbook is just what you need for your Christmas gift-giving.
Community: Salad Recipes From Arthur Street Kitchen by Hetty McKinnon, $39.95, Pan MacMillan
No more squinting at tiny recipe text. This desk magnifier renders images and text at 1.5 times their actual size. It’s an elegant object in its own right too – prism-shaped, made of crystal glass, and designed by Daniel Martinez in a collaboration between Areaware and New York’s Parsons School of Design.
Areaware Prism Magnifier, $59, Mr Kitly
This bespoke cheese set is handcrafted from durable Iroko wood and treated with linseed oil, meaning the grain will naturally darken over time. The set includes a tray, glass dome cover, grater, cheese knife and fork, and is made in Italy. For the cheese lover with a penchant for Parmesan.
Lorenzi Milano Parmesan Cheese Set, approx. $1606.21, Mr Porter
We have Sydney’s Cornersmith to thank for making pickling and preserving cool again. Bottle away the flavours of summer with this four-piece preserving kit which includes a Kilner jam pan, spatula, funnel and jar tongs (trust us, they come in handy for removing sterilised jars from boiling water ).
Kilner Preserving Kit, $220, Cornersmith
Whether it’s a spoonful of rose harissa aioli atop a cracker or a slick of wasabi mustard on a burger, any condiment from Josh & Sue’s range will bring joy to the home cook. Stash these in your fridge door.
Josh & Sue condiments, from $6.95
This is one special block of white chocolate. Not only is it organic, vegan and free of refined sugar, it also contains lion’s mane extract, a medicinal mushroom that’s said to improve brain function. Plus it contains crunchy cookie pieces and is sweetened with evaporated coconut blossom nectar. Buy two, because you’ll want to keep a block for yourself.
Loco Love Imagine Chocolate, $13, [Sorry Thanks I Love You](https://locolove.com/collections/chocolate-blocks#imagine-block http://sorrythanksiloveyou.com/loco-love-imagine|target=”_blank”|rel=”nofollow”)
A passionate traditionalist, Nick Haddow of Bruny Island Cheese is one of the few people in Australia making cheese from raw milk, and as such enjoys a cult following amongst turophiles around the world.
Bruny Island Cheese, $29.75 per 250g
Is this the ultimate cutting-edge gift? The knives from Sydney’s Skate Shank are comprised of handles forged from discarded skateboards, and blades sourced from Japan, Scandinavia and the USA. All knives are handmade to order, and take between four to six weeks to complete. This chop shank? The 16-centimetre blade is made from Swedish stainless steel and is excellent for chopping and dicing vegetables.
Skate Shank Chop Shank, $335
Could this be your new favourite honey? The White Clover honey from New Zealand’s J. Friend and Co. is sourced from Central Otago, and has a distinctive chewy, almost fudge-y texture with delicate notes of vanilla bean, coconut, pineapple and citrus. Plus, like all products from the New Zealand company, the honey is not fine-filtered, and is heated to a maximum of 40 degrees – the natural temperature of a bee hive. The result? The health properties of the honey is retained, as is the honey’s unique texture and character.
J. Friend and Co. White Clover Honey, $58.88
