• Spiced cider mix (e.g., bottles of apple and cranberry juice, a lemon and an orange, and some spices)

• Flavored coffee, tea, or cocoa mixes*

• Coffee substitutes*

• A fancy tea or coffee assortment

• Flavor-dipped spoons? (well, it’s mostly foodstuff) - dip plastic spoons (or real cutlery spoons, if you’re giving them away) into melted chocolate or white chocolate (flavored with Amaretto, maybe?); then quickly dip each into another flavoring element... like large-crystal sugar (colored, for the white chocolate?), finely-ground hazelnuts, cinnamon and sugar, etc... each spoon to be stirred into hot coffee! (wrap a few in cellophane for each gift)

• Spoon-shaped cookies! (sturdy ones), perhaps to go with a homemade sauce that can be paired with fresh fruit and whipped cream

• Homegrown dried herbs

• Seasoning mixes and flavored extracts* (how about your own curry powder? or spaghetti sauce mix?

• Herbal soup bags

• Dried soup mixes or chili mixes (with instructions) - e.g., instant mashed potato soup for campers

• Herbed rice (or other grain or legume dish) mixes

• Even just one or two token ingredients for a delicious recipe - plus recipe card (a little collection of these would likely be a big hit; or a collection of recipes to go with one special ingredient)

• Candied flowers, nuts, mint leaves, citrus peel*

• Chocolate-dipped dried apricots

• S'mores in a basket, ready to take to wherever the fire is! - graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars are easy to pack

• A collection of little cheesecakes in different flavors

• Herbal vinegars or oils*

• Bottled salad dressings*

• Croutons

• Flavored honeys; honeycomb; spun honey*

• Flavored syrups and sauces*

• Prepared horseradish and peanut butter - no kidding... if you like both of these flavors, you’ll love a bit of each on a cracker! (my horseradish-loving relatives swear by them and serve them at parties)

• Homemade maple syrup?!

• Jams and jellies and curds*

• Sprouting kit

• Pesto sauce (frozen, canned, or just the ingredients to make it)*

• Kitchen herbs growing in pots (I highly recommend "salad burnet", a mostly forgotten herb that’s easy to grow, lovely, and tastes like walnuts!)

• Little flavored cakes or breads*

• Sourdough starter*

• Pies

• Baking mixes (with instructions)

• "The 12 Doughs of Christmas" - a selection of cookie and/or bread mixes, for the holiday season or for monthly treats throughout the year

• Gingerbread houses (with or without scenery!)*

• Gingerbread men

• Cookies, biscotti* (my grandfather’s most precious gift was a yearly tin of cookies made by his far-away sister)

• Cookie-of-the-month deliveries

• Candies*

• Wine, ale, liqueur, cider, shrub*

• Mulled wine kit - a gallon of inexpensive red wine (or cranberry cider, for teetotalers?), 2 lemons (one for juicing, one for floating slices), a couple of cinnamon sticks, 1/2 a cup of sugar, and a few cloves and/or allspice thingies... all the giftee need provide is the heat!

• "Just add spirits" liqueur kits - fancy bottles with sugar, spices, and dried fruits inside (to be filled with vodka and left to soak for several weeks)

• Herbal tea mixes

• Mustards or horseradish spreads, chutneys/relishes*

• Pickles*

• Marinated mushrooms*

• Garlic preserved in oil - peel (and mince, if you like) a head or more of garlic cloves and cover with cooking oil in a jar... can be stored in the refrigerator for months (1/4 tsp. of minced equates to about 1 clove of fresh garlic for recipes)

• Trail mix (or make balls from that containing from a quarter to a third dried fruit... grind it all up in a grinder or food processor and roll bits of it into balls; then roll the balls in something like rice flour or carob powder, whatever sounds good, to keep them from sticking together)

• Granola, muesli*

• Popcorn balls

• Candied apples

• Nuts or snack mix*

• Nut butters*

• Dried fruits or vegetables

• Fruit leathers*

• Canned wild game, jerky, sausage

• Brandied fruits*

• Cheeses (curds, potted, hung, nut-covered balls, tiny foreign packages - how I loved those little wrapped triangles as a kid! - etc.)*

• Pastas*

• Small-portion freezer meals for the elderly

• Chocolate kiss cookies (mold a heaping tablespoonful of basic sugar cookie dough around an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss in the same shape; chill these before baking according to the regular directions; wrap each cookie in foil - and don't forget the paper strips sticking out, with your own messages on them)

• A cookie(etc.)-making kit (year’s supply of nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, etc.)

• Cake decorating supplies

• Pretzels in fun shapes*

• Gourmet popcorn kit - popcorn, olive oil, Spike or some other savory seasoning (e.g., popcorn spice mixes: cajun, parmesan-garlic, cinnamon-chocolate?)

• Locally-produced food gift baskets

• Fresh fruit sent to people in frozen climes!
    

(You can give something fresh or frozen, if you make sure the recipients know to stash it in the freezer or refrigerator. If it isn’t to be opened until Christmas, a card to go under the tree will help them remember to get your gift out again!)