Holiday Gift Ideas 2021
November 2021
Holiday Gift Ideas
From Seeds to Sibilla
By Edward Behr
A big bottle of wine The front label of this 100 percent Cinsault 2019 vin de France from Domaine Puech Redon in Languedoc reads, in its entirety, “2L.” Not long ago when the US tariff on French wine rose for a time to 25 percent, the two-liter size was somehow exempt, so the producer and his US importer, Louis/Dressner, decided to put this wine into big bottles. The certified-organic grapes were fermented and aged in concrete tanks, reaching a moderate 12.5 percent alcohol; no fining, no filtration, no added sulfur. The composite cork, unexpectedly, is covered with sealing wax, not the plastic-y kind but the real one that has to be applied by hand. (Insert the corkscrew as if the wax weren’t there, pull the cork halfway, brush away the shattered fragments, then pull the cork the rest of the way.) The reason for the wax may be that the automatic bottling line couldn’t put a capsule on a bottle of this impressive size. Near us, the price is $42.
A mostly dark-fruit fruitcake You may hate fruitcakes, but somebody loves them, and this one hand-made by Robert Lambert is the baking-spice spicy Cadillac version of the American style. A thorough list of ingredients yields complex, long-lasting flavors. Nothing else we’ve tasted comes anywhere close. A 1-pound (ours was generously overweight) dark-fruit fruitcake is $75 plus shipping. Serve at room temperature.
Carefully chosen garden seeds If seeds sell out early again this year, aiming some exceptional packets at your gardener may hit a bull’s eye. Fedco is my preferred source, although not all its varieties fare well in other terroirs. I’m pushing Costata Romanesca, the only zucchini worth growing. And what about three of the most flavorful lettuces, the ogive leaves of Green Deer Tongue, the red-speckled ones of Forellenschuss romaine, and the tender ones of Capitan butterhead? Easily grown are rocket (arugula — plant it after the flea beetles have begun their retreat), perennial broad-leaved sorrel (which needs a permanent spot), and tiptop Genovese basil (grow it in dappled shade — the aroma is hugely inferior in full sun). Still among herbs, not quite as easy but highly rewarding are Verte de Cambrai mâche (corn salad), chervil (which could be the most underappreciated Western herb), and dill (nothing beats the just-picked perfect tips). Or take a wild leap to the much more unusual puntarelle (for the “points” that become flowers) or Noir de Russie scorzonera (for the brittle black-skinned roots). I’ve had success with them all.
A colorful “trivet” This cheery, multicolored, almost silly table protector is composed of firm balls of felt, $19.50 plus shipping from Cat at Roof.
Really thin tumblers The usuhari (“thin glass”) tumblers from Shotoku Glass Co. in Tokyo are handblown and less than 1 mm thick — extremely lightweight. Handle with care. There’s an almost uncanny sense of contact when you’re so much more aware of a liquid than its container. These glasses could be an ideal gift for your design-loving friend who appreciates the irony of an object that could be construed as either a luxury or cheap. They come in pairs, in a well-crafted wooden box, at $72 plus shipping from Jinen.
A stocking-stuffer paperback Your romantic young gift recipient may never have come across Jean Giono’s classic short The Man Who Planted Trees, (L’Homme Qui Plantait des Arbres) first published in 1953. The great French writer’s ecological parable about reforesting a valley in Haute Provence is impeccably complemented by Michael McCurdy’s wood engravings in this still-in-print edition from 1985. Giono loved simple Provençal cooking, but this isn’t a food book; it evokes a sense of place in other ways. The price is $10 ordered through your favorite bookstore or directly from Chelsea Green Publishing.
Dried matsutake These wild Tricholoma murrillianum from British Columbia could be just right for a cook who admires the unusual, somewhat challenging matsutake, or pine mushroom. Culturally, it’s at home in Japanese cuisine. These, from the pristine mountains of B.C., have the expected element of funk though not so much of the piney aroma. The forager behind Your Wildest Foods also offers dried boletes and chanterelles, all at $9.05 per ounce.
Palm scrub brushes When it’s time to clean vegetables, cast-iron pans, nonstick cookware, ceramic items, wooden cutting boards, and more, these brushes from Japan are beautifully natural tools to do the trick. Seeing them in their neat packages almost made us hesitant to use them. A trio — a stiff palm-fiber brush, coconut-fiber brush, and circular white palm brush — from Jinen costs $53 plus shipping.
Varnelli “Sibilla” Amaro In 1868, Girolamo Varnelli’s first product, and for a long time his only one, was this “Sibilla” amaro, named for the Monti Sibillini in Marche where he lived. He based it on the medicinal qualities of bitter Gentiana lutea and Cinchona calisaya, intending it for the herders who encountered malaria on the transhumance. A sip of the sweet-bitter liquid recalls delicate honey and maple syrup, coffee, chestnuts, walnuts, and green walnut husks. The distillery is still run by four Varnelli descendants. Apparently nothing is changed, down to the use of a mortar and pestle and a wood fire. The recipe — herbs, roots, and barks — remains a secret, but one thing revealed is the sweetening, in perfect balance, which is honey from the Monti Sibillini. A liter bottle costs around $50 in the US. If you can’t find it in your neighborhood, search online, as we did, for a wine shop that will ship.
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