Maintain your sanity this holiday season by doing all your shopping in the comfort of your pajamas. Check out 10 of our favorite food products available for purchase online.
A well-stocked kitchen needs a tool for juicing citrus. Fresh orange juice for breakfast, fresh lime juice for the sparkling water that powers you through your day, it’s healthy and it’s delicious. You can juice oranges and lemons with anything from a handheld wooden reamer to a state-of-the-art piece of equipment like Hurom’s stainless steel citrus juicer. We vote for this juicer. It will tackle anything from a key lime to a large grapefruit. Cut your fruit in half, set it on the juicing cone and press down lightly with the lever. It effortlessly squeezes out the maximum amount of juice. Raise the lever and you’re ready for the next piece of fruit. There’s a drip-stop juice outlet so you can pour juice directly into a glass or into a container for storage. The motor is so quiet you won’t disturb those folks who are sleeping in. And all the parts that touch the fruit are top rack dishwasher safe.
$149. Available at hurom.com/products/cj-citrus-juicer.
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H. L. Franklin's Healthy Honey in Statesboro harvests honey from eight different Georgia plant sources including palmetto, tupelo and gallberry. A very special variety is their crystalized cotton honey. They've recently added Creamed Honey to their product line and it was just recognized as the Finalists' Choice at the 2018 Flavor of Georgia competition and won the best of the Honey and Related Products category. Creamed honey is one of our favorite ways to enjoy this sweet treat. It's not honey mixed with cream - it's honey that's been whipped to create a creamy texture. It doesn't drip or drizzle. It stays creamy and that means it's great for spreading on toast or using as a sandwich spread with something like ham or turkey. And that makes it easy to enjoy all day long.
$16 per 12-ounce jar. Available at Etsy and Amazon and online at franklinfoodsllc.com where you will also find a list of retailers.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
We love this Turmeric Stackable Tin from The Republic of Tea. The company makes organic turmeric tea in three varieties – cinnamon, ginger and matcha – then packages each in individual tins and stacks them in a space-saving tower. Each tin contains 12 natural, unbleached round tea bags that nestle perfectly in your mug, making it easy to enjoy a hot, soothing turmeric drink at home or at work. What we particularly liked about these teas is that the earthy turmeric flavor comes through – it’s enhanced but not hidden by the other ingredients in the tea.
$14 for three-tin tower. Available online at republicoftea.com
4. Chocolates
Jocelyn Gragg of JARDI Chocolates spends her days in her Chamblee shop dreaming up luscious combinations of chocolate and fruit, chocolate and spice, chocolate and nuts. Then she turns those dreams into two-bite confections, each chocolate made by hand (her hand) with decoration hand applied and fillings hand made.
$11 for a 4-piece box. Available online at jardichocolates.com.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Maybe you want to eat your apples with a spoon. We found Adams Apple Pie Jam on a trip to Greenville. The recipe was created by Theresa Adams of Lexington, South Carolina. Adams Apple Eatables also offers apple butter, apple cranberry butter and apple pumpkin butter. You can buy just a jar (or several jars) or get the jar and a sweet wooden spoon decorated with a tiny half apple that makes it easy to just eat that jam right from the container. The jam truly lives up to its name. It’s tart and sweet and sings of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Yes, you can put it on toast but it’s perfect for pancakes, to use as an apple filling for turnovers or to stir into your next bowl of oatmeal.
$10.99 per 9-ounce jar and spoon. Available online at adamsappleeatables.com
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Margaret and Neal Amos, mother and son bakers, prepare made-from-scratch bite-size cheese straws in their commercial kitchen in Columbus. Margaret started the business in 2011 and when Neal graduated from college, he joined her. Together they make crisp little wafers using a recipe based on one Margaret learned from her mother. The Amos’s offer original, mild and spicy versions, with the spicy getting just a little extra kick from some additional cayenne. No overwhelming heat here. We enjoyed them all and appreciated that the mild straws were right for those who swear they’ll never touch anything spicy. Their cheese straws have been finalists in several Flavor of Georgia competitions, and the Amos's bring them to events all over the state. In June, you’ll find them at Virginia-Highland’s Summerfest. Last Labor Day, you might have nibbled on their products at the Decatur Book Festival.
Straws come in 3- and 5-ounce individual packages as well as gift tins. Two 5-ounce packs are $20, four 3-ounce packs are $24. Available online at southernstraws.com.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Flowers on your table? Check. Flowers in your drinks? Yes, you can check that one off, too. Champagne and rose cocktails. Tropical orchid lemonade. Cherry blossom martinis. Lemon verbena soda. You can have one or all of these on your menu with Floral Elixirs from Nora Egger of Cleveland, Ohio. Made from extracts of real flowers and cane sugar, the syrups are produced in 10-gallon batches and are hand bottled and labeled. We played around these with a half dozen friends who enjoyed sampling the flower flavors and then dreaming up flower combinations with sparkling wine, with vodka and with sparkling water. The drinks are pretty, the flavors are fun and whether it’s a mocktail or a cocktail, your guests will love the idea of drinking flowers.
$15 per 8.5-ounce bottle or $29 for a kit of five 2-ounce bottles. Available online at drinkyourflowers.com/.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
8. Bar-B-Que Sauce and BBQ Rub
Joe Kem Lacey is a caterer in Moultrie. Years ago he would get barbecue sauce from a friend, the best he’d ever tasted. When the friend died, he discovered he’d been left quite a legacy, the recipe for that sauce. Lacey made it his own and now sells the original sauce as well as a hot version and a barbecue rub. The tomato-based sauce is relatively light and the gentle heat comes strictly from black pepper. The result is a nicely balanced combination of mustard and tomato that we really liked. And we loved Lacey’s tip to mix the rub into softened cream cheese for a great spread to enjoy on crackers. Lacey says the sauce is so good you’ll enjoy just licking it off your finger. We prefer it with a spoon, but we definitely agree it’s so good you could just appreciate it on its own.
$4.99 per 12-ounce bottle for the sauce, $3.99 per 5-ounce jar of the rub. Available online at joekemsbbq.com .
9. Harissa
Not that many years ago we didn’t know salsa from mayonnaise. Now we’re stirring the spicy stuff into everything. This year’s “salsa” is harissa, the spicy North African condiment made with chili peppers, garlic, olive oil and herbs. Traditionally used in tagines and to flavor couscous, you’ll find it on local menus where chefs use it to add another layer of earthy spice to their dishes. Making your own involves soaking and toasting and using a mortar and pestle. Or you can use Mina Harissa, now widely available at local grocers. They offer a mild harissa and spicy red and green varieties. Stir it into your hummus or tzatziki. Add some to yogurt for a dip for vegetables. Use it to spice up your grilling sauce.
$7 per 10-ounce jar. Available online at casablancafoods.com.
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10. Spritzer Carbonation System
We’re big fans of sparkling beverages. Seems like a lot of folks are these days. Now you can take your carbonation system on the road. The Drinkmate Spritzer is a handheld carbonation device. Pour your beverage in the reusable bottle, pull the trigger and you’ve got sparkling juice. Sparkling wine. Sparkling water. Sparkling coffee. Sparkling tea. You get the idea. Add just a little carbonation or a lot. Each carbonation canister will add sparkle to up to 32 half-liter bottles. And great news, the CO2 cylinders are refillable. And the whole device is small enough to fit into a kitchen drawer or in your bin of tailgating supplies. Here’s to you, sparkling Cosmopolitan!
$79.99. Available on Amazon and at https://www.idrinkproducts.com/. Cartridges can be exchanged and refilled at https://www.idrinkproducts.com/ and additional cartridges can be ordered through Home Depot.
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