Jessica's Blog

Jessica is a freelance writer of two non-fiction books, stories for children, articles, and screenplays. Her first novel, Luxury, is being published by Headline in 2009. She mostly spends her time writing in bed, reading cookbooks, thinking about what to eat next and perusing the net for foodie goodies.

Her favourite websites are Daylesfordorganic.com, Amazon.co.uk, Divertimenti.co.uk FineCheese.co.uk and FortnumAndMason.com.

My Dream Hamper

Published on Friday 12th December 2008

Writing my Food for Thought feature about hampers got me dreaming about wonderful wicker baskets crammed with treats, and what a fantastic job it must be to have the task of creating hampers for a living. So, what would be in my ultimate hamper? I started making a list…

Booze first. Berry Bros & Rudd do wonderful boxed selections, so their Vintner’s reserve, containing a bottle of Bolly, two classic whites and three reds (all French) would see me very happy. I’m not a big drinker of spirits, but St Germain elderflower liqueur (pictured left) is like bottled Summer.

Cheese is a must, and one of my absolute faves is Yarg, made in Cornwall by Lynher Dairies. It looks lovely and is mellow enough for everyone to enjoy. I’d also like a Vacherin to dip chunks of baguette into , and a Stilton, which I only really eat at Christmas, but is good for everything from snacking, to serving with cold cuts, to using for creamy pasta sauces. And I tasted the nicest cheddar ever recently, from Godminster – it’s strong, but smooth, and comes in a sweet red-rined heart-shape.

I want a whole ham on the bone from Daylesford, (pictured above right) to be picked at over Christmas week, and eaten with mustard and leftover roast potatoes.

Nudo’s olive oils (pictured left) zing with the clean flavours of lemon, chilli and basil – perfect to perk up a dull winter salad.

Having never been a fan of fruit cake, Meg Rivers’ chocolate Christmas cake is perfect for me – and also looks the part, with its gold starry decorations.

A side of smoked salmon straight from the rivers of Scotland and delivered by Loch Fyne will sort out lunch on Christmas Day, and a jar of Shuttleworth Malbranche’s foie gras means all I have to do is make some little squares of toast, and I have luxurious canapés to feed my guests before the main event (we always eat Christmas Dinner in the evening…)

My hamper is groaning now and my poor postman is going to be complaining, but there’s room for one more treat, surely? I can just about squeeze in a few chocs – the elegant, rich simplicity of La Maison du Chocolat’s plain truffles (pictured right) is what’s called for here.

Now, Mr Selfridge, Messrs. Fortnum and Mason – how about that hamper compiler job for next year, eh?

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