6 homemade food gifts that are so good even your pickiest friend will love them

The festive season is just around the corner, and you just can’t face the chaos of gift shopping. Worse, you’ve run out of ideas for what to buy.

I’ve been there. And the irony is, I love gift shopping. But I’m also pretty sure some of my gifts end up in the recipient’s re-gifting pile, ready to impress someone else in the future. 

Here’s a thought: Consider chucking the whole shopping shebang altogether and rustling up a jar of food instead. 

Making a food gift probably takes less time than getting dressed, making the trip to your neighbourhood shopping mall, browsing for suitable gifts, queueing up to pay for them, queuing up again to get them gift-wrapped, and finally, tiredly making your way home.  

You can do all them all in your pyjamas – and at 2am, if you like. And with these recipes, you don’t even need to be that much of a cook.  

Even the pickiest friend or relative won’t be able to fault the care and time taken to make a food gift. Yes, you could easily buy a jar of anything I’ve offered here, but that’s not the point. 

And in case you’re still not sold, they make great last-minute gifts too. 

1. ROASTED GARLIC

This mouthwatering condiment with a mellow, nutty taste is very easy to make and can be eaten with everything – on toast, added into pasta or mashed potatoes, or even eaten with ice-cream, if you wish. All you need is an oven or air fryer. 

INGREDIENTS

• Whole bulbs of garlic, about three bulbs per gift
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 200°C.
2. Peel the outer layers of paper off the garlic bulbs and cut a quarter of the tops off.
3. Place the bulbs on a piece of foil. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle salt over.
4. Wrap the garlic snugly in the foil and bake for 40 minutes until the garlic is caramelised and soft.
5. Transfer the bulbs into an airtight container or squeeze out the cloves. 

2. RASPBERRY JAM 

This simple jam recipe requires no pectin and does away with complicated canning techniques. If you like, you can sterilise your glass jars in the oven (140°C for 20 minutes); leave them in the oven until the jam is ready. 

INGREDIENTS

• 5 punnets (125g each) fresh raspberries
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice, more if you like it tart

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Before you start, pop a small plate into the freezer.
2. Wash raspberries and place in a large pot. Add sugar and lemon juice. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the sugar draws out some of the juice.
3. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the berries are soft.
4. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil. You can skim off the foam or stir it back into the pot.
5. Cook the jam for about 45 minutes, stirring often, then test if the jam has set. Remove the plate from the freezer and place a spoonful of jam on it. Leave for 1 minute then draw a line through the centre of the jam. If the jam is set, the line will hold its shape.
6. Transfer the jam into the sterilised jars and seal immediately. When cool, transfer to the fridge until it’s time to give them away.  

3. BASIL PESTO

Basil pesto is one of those condiments you want to keep on hand, in the fridge.. Serve it with a cheese platter or make pesto pasta with it. It also goes well in sandwiches, salads and with meat. 

You can decide how much “love” you want to put into it: Pulse it in the blender, hand chop the pesto with a mezzaluna (an Italian knife with crescent-shaped blades), or pound it in a pestle and mortar. I love the last method as it gives the pesto a wonderful aroma and texture but it takes more time and lots of muscle work.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 garlic cloves (do not use old or sprouting garlic)
• 60g fresh basil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 block of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• Extra-virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a dry saucepan, toast the pine nuts over medium-heat. Move them around the pan so they don’t burn. They’re ready where the nuts turn a deeper brown and have toast marks on them. Leave to cool.
2. Grate enough Parmigiano Reggiano to get half a cup of cheese.
3. If using a blender, put everything in and pulse until smooth, with visible bits. If hand-chopping, start with one-third of the ingredients and chop until you get a crumbly mixture, repeat until all the pesto is done. If pounding, tear the basil into smaller bits first to make them easier to pound.
4. Transfer pesto to an airtight container, top with extra-virgin olive oil and store in the fridge until it’s time to gift it. 

4. CARAMELISED ONIONS

This is an easy recipe but it takes patience. Caramelisation takes time – about an hour – so don’t rush the process. It seems like a lot of onions but they will cook down to about 1.5 cups of caramelised deliciousness.   

INGREDIENTS

• 5 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced
• 4-5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• Butter, optional, one pat of butter per onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add onions and stir to coat evenly. After 10 minutes, add the salt and sugar, if using. Stir to combine.
3. Leave to cook for the next 50 minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure the onions don’t burn. If you see signs of charring, reduce the heat.
4. The onions are ready when they emit a sweet, caramelised smell and their volume has decreased significantly. They will also look slightly sticky.
5. Leave to cool, then transfer to an airtight container. It stores well in the fridge for up to a week.

5. CRISPY PORK LARD

This food gift is more precious than gold to lard-loving friends. All it takes is a tray or two of pork fat (you can find them in the pork section of supermarkets or at the wet market), left to render in a pot or saucepan, and you’ll be their favourite person this festive season.

INGREDIENTS

• One tray of pork fat (or two or three, as long as your pot or pan is large enough), cut into 2cm cubes.
• Enough water to cover the cubes
• A few slices of ginger and the white part of a few stalks of spring onions  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To a large saucepan, add the pork fat and water. Add the ginger and spring onions. Bring the heat up to medium and leave for 10 minutes. This gets rid of the porky taste.
2. Discard the ginger and spring onions, and drain the water.
3. Over medium heat, leave the fatty cubes to render, checking every five to 10 minutes. Stir periodically, and gently. You should small bubbles; lower the heat if you see smoke or steam.
4. When the cubes have shrunk and are a light golden-brown, watch it carefully as it can burn if you take your eyes off it now.
5. When the cubes turn a shade darker, turn off the heat and leave the pork lard to cool.
6. You can drain the oil and save it for your own cooking, and give away just the crispy pork lard in an airtight container but I find that adding the oil elevates the gifting level. It stores well in a cool, dry place.  

6. SPRING ONION AND GINGER SAUCE

This sauce goes great with chicken rice but my family loves it with practically everything, from pasta to steak. We make a huge bowl every time and there’s never enough to go around. You can adjust the proportion of ginger and spring onions to the recipient’s taste – say, more ginger, more salt, you really can’t go wrong.

INGREDIENTS

• A packet of spring onions, finely chopped
• 2.5cm knob of ginger, grated
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup or more of neutral-tasting oil, like sunflower

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Transfer the spring onions, grated ginger and salt to a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat up the oil and pour over the mixture.
3. Stir to combine all the ingredients, and adjust salt to taste.
4. When cool, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge until it’s time to gift it.