How we make hampers

Putting together our hampers; not necessarily as easy as it looks!

Now is the season when we are sourcing and taste testing new things and curating them together to create our new range of hampers. Putting together our hampers is not necessarily as simple as you may think...

We consider ourselves like chefs, mixing and combining quality ingredients and tastes to create a complete and authentic ‘dish’, or ‘menu’ in the case of the larger hamper gifts.

The very foundation of everything comes in sourcing the right ingredients/components. We seek out production companies that align with our philosophy, experience and passion for food, then we taste test with a cross section of tastes and preferences to find the very best of the best.

Then we start combining into hampers. We identify if we are creating a completely new gift or an evolution of a current gift. We consider if there will be alcohol or not, whether the hamper will contain fresh food or not, if it will be sweet, savoury or a mix -and of course what sort of price point we are looking to meet.

We commence by considering a theme or concept for each gift, for example the Smorgasbord (a whole buffet style selection of cheeses, meats and cured fish with accompaniments) or the Connoisseur (a gentleman of a hamper with traditional taste – Port, Claret, Smoked salmon, pate etc). Good names get the creative juices flowing and help give the gift a real personality.

It is really important to consider how the items sit together and combine. We, of course, need a good balance and visual appeal, but more important to us is to ensure a good mix of flavours and combination of things to eat together. For example; if there is cheese, is there some crackers and chutney or pickle? Do the cheeses combine to make a balanced mix of soft, strong, flavoured and blue? We also make sure to take advice from our wine expert on food pairings to ensure the wine is a perfect complement to the food.  

We also like to push our recipients to have the opportunity to try something new and maybe slightly more adventurous than they would buy themselves – taking the opportunity of receiving a gift to take a risk-free adventure into gastronomy. For example, N’duja – a spicy spreadable salami – a speciality of the south of Italy added our ‘Meat feast’ gifts with salamis and cured hams.

Finally we consider the packaging; which size and style do we need. And we always need to check if it packs into the container safely and securely whilst looking the part!

We try to ensure we have a wide choice with something for every budget and taste; checking the range at every price point.

So – certainly not as easy as bunging a few things in a box and a good reason to leave it to the experts with over 35 years’ experience of putting together food gifts that truly delight.