Homemade Food Gifts for the Holidays

How would you like to have thoughtful yet inexpensive homemade gifts for friends and family this holiday season? At the risk of sounding like Martha Stewart, I would like to suggest that a little time spent now can save you a lot of money and hassle later.

As we rapidly approach the end of the Minnesota harvest season, consider using the end of season bounty rather than wasting it or letting it overwhelm you. Take a few minutes to gather the final herbs of summer rather than letting them wilt and go to seed in the garden. Splurge on the wide variety of fruits and vegetables available in co-ops and farmer's markets at this time of year. Then spend a weekend or a few week nights putting together some of the gifts discussed below. When the holidays come, sit back and avoid the rush of crowds or the time spent online shopping, and present your friends and family with beautiful and tasty gifts. (They don't have to know how much money you saved! Use it to go somewhere warm in February.)

Flavored vinegars and oils in pretty bottles are very popular and usually quite pricey. But they are quite easy to make at home, and the flavors are usually far superior to any commercial variety. Besides - you can customize your flavors!

Making flavored vinegar couldn't be simpler. You just choose your vinegar and your flavorings, chop up the flavorings, and then mix them together in a clean jar and let them steep for a minimum of ten days in a cool dark spot. (Canning jars make good steeping jars.) Check the strength of the flavors by pouring a few drops onto some white bread and then taste it! When the flavor is strong enough, filter the vinegar through a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter into a clean decorative jar. Add some ribbon or a hand-lettered label, and voila!

Flavored oils are a little trickier and don't last as long as vinegars. They usually involve heating the flavorings in the oil for a short period of time and then filtering into a pretty jar. But, for safety, you need to keep the oil refrigerated and use it within a month or two. (Yes, I know the commercial ones don't require this - but they add preservatives and are required to follow more rigorous production methods. Don't take any chances.) One caveat - stay away from making garlic oil that you won't use immediately - it's too good a candidate for botulism.

Some favorite flavor combinations: lemon and dill in white wine vinegar, basil and garlic in red wine vinegar, and chili peppers and oregano in olive oil.

Preserves, conserves, marmalades and jellies seem like they're specially designed for gift giving. The beautiful jewel-toned colors and intoxicating aromas just beg to be placed in pretty bags or baskets and presented as gifts as the weather gets cold and grey. And condiments such as mustards or ketchup are always welcome - particularly for use on holiday leftovers. A true conserve contains both nuts and fruits, usually one or more dried fruits mixed with fresh. Preserves are soft spreads made from whole small fruits or cut-up larger fruits. These fruits should be suspended in a clear jelly or thick syrup. Marmalades are a sort of cross between jams and jellies and usually contain pieces of fruit peel (usually citrus) as well as fruit. These pieces are also suspended in a clear jelly. And finally, there is of course plain jelly. Although you can get good jellies and preserves commercially, it is always preferable to custom-tailor your flavors by making your own. And good conserves and marmalades tend to be harder to find and expensive.

What is particularly convenient about making all of these is that you can buy or harvest the produce in the summer or early fall and freeze or dry it. Then, when the weather isn't as nice and the air is crisp, you can take out your produce and make your gifts. These do require canning unless you are going to make them immediately before giving them and keep them in the refrigerator. This is certainly doable but much less convenient than having a stash of canned goodies in your cellar or closet. You can decorate these if you like, with bits of fabric on the lids or fancy labels, but I usually leave them as is. Why draw attention away from the beautiful contents?

Some favorite combinations: Blueberry-Citrus Marmalade, Apple Preserves, Cranberry-Walnut Conserve; Bourbon Mustard; Chipotle Ketchup.

Because they don't involve canning or acid ingredients, these present the best opportunity to have fun decorating the jar or other container you'll be placing them in. Save pretty jars from commercial goods, look online for suppliers, visit your local kitchen stores and co-ops, and frequent garage sales.

Then visit a local sewing or craft store and have some fun! Ribbons, yarns, wax seals, fancy labels, paints, and even decoupage can be used on the outside of the containers. And local office supply stores have lots of fun shapes and colors of labels to run through your inkjet. (Bonus note: If you have children, container decorating is a great rainy day activity.) Try making granola mixes with home-dried fruits or flavor some good loose tea with a blend of herbs, fruits or spices. Put together trios of commonly used spices and herbs in cute little jars - maybe a Mediterranean grouping of basil, oregano and rosemary gathered from your garden or the farmer's market and dried as whole leaves. The possibilities are endless.

If you'd like to explore some of these ideas further, here are a few resources:

Browning, Marie, Jazzy Jars: Glorious Gift Ideas. (2002) Sterling, NY.
Amendt, Linda J. Blue Ribbon Preserves. (2001) HP Books, NY.
Wolf, Isabel D. & Schafer, William,
FS-01088 Making Jams, Marmalades, Preserves and Conserves. (1990). Available at
www.extension.umn.edu/ distribution/nutrition/DJ1088.html
Kendal P & Rausch J. No. 9.340 Flavored Vinegars and Oils. (2003). Available at
www.ext.colostate.edu/ PUBS/foodnut/ 09340.html

Karen Koch trained as a Master Food Preserver at the U of MN, to prevent these skills from becoming lost arts in our high-tech, fast-food society.