Edible Presents

I really enjoy making and receiving edible presents. There is something magical about opening a box and discovering spices with a written note telling me how to use them and the history of those spices.

To open a box and find that someone has spent the time making me something is really special. A box of homemade biscuits cut in various shapes, wrapped in parchment is just a joy to behold.

What about giving an edible present? It is slightly scary giving a present which has been made by hand. I find it doubly scary if it is food. as there is always that fear that I will inadvertantly make the recipient ill.

So if I am giving a food gift it is usually made from a recipe I have used on many occassions. One which I am very familiar with and when making it I do not experiment. I stick with those recipes I know and which I know the recipent will also like.

As I am not familiar with using chocolate in baking it is not an ingredient I am used to so I would never make chocolate truffles or similar items as gifts.

I also know those who would hate to receive a home made gift and that is good to know. For a birthday or Christmas gift it is important to know what the recipeint just would not like to receive as well as what they would like to receive.

I can remember a few years ago being given a finger of fruit cake to sample. It was a moist nutty fruity crumbly fruit cake and totally delicious. A few weeks later a fruit cake was delivered and I was shown how to feed it until I needed it at Christmas. From then on, a slab of Christmas fruit cake uniced and delicious would arrive sometime between Halloween and Christmas Eve. This way the giver said she never felt under pressure.

A lady I used to work with used to purchase a Gateaux Christmas Fruit Cake every year on the 20th December and that was the start of the Christmas period for her. She hated baking but buying that cake was an important part of her Christmas tradition.

Through knowing your recipient you will know if an edible gift would be welcome and secondly whether homemade or bought would be even more acceptable.

If you are a donor of edible gifts enjoy the process.