Culinaire Holiday Gift Guide

2021 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

For our gift suggestions this year, we’re staying as local as possible to support Canadian companies, so we scoured our province and country to find gifts for your food and drinkloving family and friends. We’re delighted to present 19 of our favourites here. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

COOKING WITH KIDS

Finding tasty, nutritious meals that also let kids get involved in the kitchen can be really tough. Cooking with Kids went straight to the source and asked foodies and local folks for their recipes that are tried and tested, kidfriendly, and sure to help spark a love of cooking in the wee ones. And 100% of the proceeds go to children’s and youth initiatives in the community! $25 online at cpyfstore.ca.

LANNIE RAE GOURMET

Cochrane’s Lannie Rae Gourmet have been making artisan, gourmet pancake and waffle mixes for 13 years, and have now brought out a range of six new flavours for the holidays – and we can vouch that they’re very delicious! Choose Irish Cream, Snickerdoodle, Pear Frangipane, Bourbon Butter Pecan, Rum & Eggnog, and Pumpkin White Chocolate. $15-16, stockists/orders at lannieraegourmet.com/pantry

HUMMINGBIRD CHOCOLATE SALTED CARAMELS

Erica and Drew Gilmour are international aid workers who spent their careers working in developing countries, and now produce artisan bean-to-bar, small batch chocolate in Almonte, Ontario. Their delicious Chocolate Salted Caramels are wrapped in 70 percent dark chocolate and topped with flaky sea salt from Vancouver Island Salt Co. 9-piece box $22, see hummingbirdchocolate.com for stockists.

HANDFUEL BAGEL CASHEWS AND LEMON MARCONA ALMONDS

A new to us company we’re thrilled to get to know, is Ontario’s Handfuel. Cole Richman creates flavourful, quality nut and berry products, and they’re really good! We can’t stop popping our faves, Everything Bagel Cashews and Lemon Marcona Almonds! 150g packs are at Sobeys stores as well as online at handfuel.ca, where you can also order 10, 16, or 24-bag mixed boxes from $65 with free shipping.

EATABLE GOURMET POPCORN

Air-popped corn is coated in premium Belgian white chocolate and sprinkled with Champagne-infused sugar crystals that literally "POP" in your mouth! These elevated popcorns are made with a process that eliminates the alcohol to leave the residual flavours, and every pack donates to rePurpose Global and Second Harvest charities. $9-10 at eatable.com, and at Indigo, Saks OFF 5TH, HBC Marketplace and more.

SPIRIT HILLS π RESERVE PORT STYLE FLOWER WINE, ALBERTA

It’s always nice to see bottles that transcend styles and elevate the drinking experience. A fortified “flower” wine in the style of mead, it tastes much closer to tawny port than the work of local bees, but proudly showing off lifted floral characters, tawny, nutty notes, and a rich sweet palate. Very nice, and very local in every way. CSPC +842125, 375 mL $46

WINEGUARD

No one wants flies and wasps in their drinks, so Calgary’s woman-owned, Blossom Bench Group have created stainless steel WineGuard glass covers and colourful, food-grade silicone DrinkGuard lids (which double as a nonslip coaster on your boat!) to protect them – a perfect stocking stuffer! Single WineGuard in sleeve $13, set of 4 with stand $47, singe DrinkGuard $5, set of 8 $37. wineguard.com to order.

CUISIPRO ROASTING RACK

We suspect you’ll want to keep this for yourself rather than gifting, as these Cuisipro roasting racks make getting your roast or bird from the pan to your serving platter or cutting board, a whole lot easier! With large handles, these nonstick racks fit a regular 41x33 cm roasting pan and hold up to an 11 kg bird or roast. They fold for easy storage, and have a removable pin to take them apart. $37 at zestspot.com.

WHITEWATER COOKS TOGETHER AGAIN

The sixth cookbook in BC’s Shelley Adams’ Whitewater Cooks series, ‘Together Again’ was the name chosen before the pandemic, and is now more apt then ever. Filled with nearly 80 brand new, simple yet elegant, easy to follow recipes, beautifully photographed and produced, there are far too many dishes we want to make to list here, so do check it out – we suspect you’ll be thrilled, as we are! Alicon Holdings Ltd $37.

ALCHEMIST VINEGAR BY TIPPA DISTILLERY

The Tippa nano-distillery in Okotoks makes the awarded Lovebird Gin and Magpie Rum – and now Alchemist Vinegar too! We’re really enjoying Honey Blackened Garlic Vinegar, from fresh Alberta garlic blackened in a sous vide for two months, and added to honey mead before being converted to vinegar with birch bark. With many culinary uses, we’re loving a few drops in our cocktails too! 500 mL $17 at tippadistillery.square.site

ITALIAN CENTRE SHOP ADVENT CALENDAR

The Italian Centre Shop have produced their first curated advent calendar with 24 individually wrapped mini versions of treasures for the holidays! Each pack includes a postcard with clues about that day’s product, available at full size in the stores. From November 4, each of the five locations in Edmonton and Calgary will have only 100 calendars, so you’ll have to be quick to be sure of getting yours! $50.

WABANAKI BARREL AGED MAPLE SYRUP

Wabanaki Maple is Indigenous, woman-owned and located on Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation), and committed to helping to preserve the environment and Indigenous communities. This beautiful package contains three 100 mL bottles of barrel-aged maple syrup, with Bourbon, Whiskey, and Toasted Oak. The syrups are $12 each or $33 for the pack of three. Check out wabanakimaple.com for stockists and to order.

TOMATO WHEELS WOODEN SPOONS

The pandemic has turned everything on its head for Edmonton’s Moirae Choquette. She was awarded a culinary scholarship in Italy, and was set to launch and offer her quick Italian food last fall, but instead has created kitchen tools brand, Tomato Wheels. Her inaugural products are winners – the light yet very strong, Acacia wood Corner Scraper and Stir Stick are really well made. $25 each at tomatowheels.com

POPPY BARLEY TABLEMATS

People and the planet are top priority for Kendall and Justine Barber, founders of luxury Alberta footwear brand Poppy Barley, and now they’ve branched out to include homeware with the limited edition Table-Top Collection of PB Casa. The range includes covetable, chic leather placemats and coasters in three colours. From $30 at Edmonton and Calgary Poppy Barley stores, and at PoppyBarley.com/Casa.

JOLIE POP

Calgary wine girl, Kelley Abbey, would start her wine tastings with a glass of bubbles and a bowl of her famous truffle popcorn. As much as people loved the wine tasting, they always talked at the end of the night about that darn truffle popcorn! It started to have a bit of a cult following… So Abbey perfected her recipe and now we can buy a kit to make at home. $21 DM @thejoilepop or email thejoliepop@gmail.com.

FOOMAN COOKIES

New this year, Calgary’s Buddy’s Bakery are baking Fooman Cookies fresh daily – they’re delicious, traditional, Iranian treats, and stuffed with a cinnamon, sugar and walnut filling, With a crumbly texture, heat these cookies briefly in a microwave or oven and eat warm. They’re especially good with a topping of ice cream, or mixed into ice cream! $3 each and $10 for 4 cookies. Pick up or order at buddysbakery.ca.

JOLENE’S TEABAG GIFT PACK

Jolene Brewster and Jess McNally of Jolene's Tea House have been hand blending organic teas in Banff since 2005 – and we’ve only just discovered them, and are now big fans! Their 24-bag, organic teabag pack makes a great gift for tea lovers like us, and contains three bags of each of eight flavours: three black teas, two green teas, and three caffeine-free herbal teas. $30 in store or at jolenesteahouse.com.

WAYNE GRETZKY NO.99 SALTED CARAMEL CANADIAN CREAM

Imagine three-times Alberta Beverage Award winner, Wayne Gretzky No.99 Red Cask Whisky, blended with fresh from the farm Ontario cream, salt, and caramel, and you have a truly Canadian holiday cream liqueur for sipping over ice, pouring over your pudding, or adding to your coffee! It’s rich, with marshmallow, toffee, and milk chocolate aromas, following through to the creamy palate. CSPC +837957 $32-35

MEDIUM RARE TERRANOVA APRON

We see chefs wearing Calgary’s Medium Rare aprons on most of the Canadian TV cooking shows and in a lot of our favourite restaurants, so we know they’re long lasting and look good too. We can buy them to wear at home, and they make superb gifts for the cook in your life! These 100% cotton Terranova aprons come in different colours, and we really like this Seafoam (pictured) too! $75, check out mediumrarechef.com.