Home Made Food Gifts - merged

MrsSambora

ooooo just found this thread, have been on the craft one but am doing foody gifts this year so glad to find this one!

so far have made kola kube vodka and am making small quantities of some recipes just now to see what they are like. made mango chutney this week and going to try makin picallili next.

got the river cottage preserves book so spotted a few recipes in there to try too. soooooo excited!! the joy of preserving has really got me fired up, how very sad!!

papoosue

ooh, kola kube vodka sounds nice!

I've got three apple trees in my garden, pretty overgrown and mainly yielding small sour apples - but one of the trees' apples are bigger and, although still slightly tart, are fairly edible. Does anyone know if they would be good for making into jams/jellies/chutneys etc? I'm thinking the Nigella recipe might be good with them...

:-)

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I think food gifts are so lovely to receive.Last year I was given a jar of shallots in sherry vinegar and some christmas chutney.Both homemade.They were both well received (and delicious) and such a change from chocolate or smellies.The very thought that someone had spent time on making them for me to enjoy was attractive in itself.

MrsTinks

Well I've made a tiny glass of dried tomatoes on oil today (well I dried them yesterday) and I feel really good seeing the first "fruits of my labour" :rotfl: I'll leave them to stand for a week or so before trying them.
Also have a stock of white wine vinegar and cider vinegar now if I stumble across anything else I can make into a fruit vinegar
Oh and bought more sugar today too...

MrsTinks

Oh and a hint to all... if you make rumtopf... don't forget to add sugar!!! It's vile without it! :rotfl: durrrrrr!

uncommonadvice

Surely in terms of cheap food gifts for friends and family, nothing will ever beat rice cripy cakes?

EagerLearner

Hmmm, not very luxurious for a hamper though unless you added extras I guess... Bet kids would like them though :T

I would love to make chutneys for mother in laws partner - he loves spicy stuff. What care do you need to take? I have never preserved anything before... I am a preserve virgin!:p

Recipes for anything a) easy and b) spicy would definately inspire me to make something for him!

Would also love to make the tomatoes in oil - any suggestions?

I think the jars from Douwe Egberts coffee are possible good ones for this kind of thing?

Angie100

Eager Learner - there is a nice recipe for 'Cheeky Chilli-Pepper Chutney' on the Jamie Oliver website. Looks pretty easy and I saw him making it on Jamie At Home last night on More4.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/veggies/cheeky_chilli_pepper_chutney

EagerLearner

OooOOoh Angie - I saw that too, and you just reminded me! My brain is like a sieve sometimes.. honestly...

Edit> Peeps have only given it a rating of 3/5 - hmmm - have you tried it?

Angie100

No I haven't tried it but it looked nice last night on tv - I am waiting for my dad's chilli's to ripen to use them. I guess you can adapt it to your taste or put in more chillis for a spicier version. It was like a marmalade when he cooked it on tv. Looked yummy!

He also made a nice tomato chutney but I cannot find the recipe so I am just d/l last nights show on 4OD to see if I can jot it down as he is making it!!!