The FruitGuys Gift Guide
- By Miriam Wolf
- Reading Time: 3 mins.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Time to string the lights or kindle the candles. Time to drive cloves into an orange to make the best-smelling room freshener imaginable. Time to savor a dense and boozy fruitcake!
You see, the holidays are a fantastic occasion to show our undying appreciation for the best food nature ever gave us: fruit. And in the spirit of giving, we present this fruit-centric gift guide, with something for every fruit fanatic on your list.
Handy Fruit Tools
Sometimes fruit is easy to prep and eat—take blueberries. Not much to do there except maybe a quick rinse before gobbling them up. Some fruits, however, demand a bit more work. Say, pineapples—they require lots of trimming and slicing. But a two-in-one slicer/corer like Oxo’s stainless steel ratcheting pineapple slicer ($20) makes short work of any pineapple. Wrap it up along with a pineapple for a prime tropical-themed gift.
Ever made a cherry pie from scratch? Neither had I—until a cherry pitter came into my life. Who’s going to sit there with a paring knife and painstakingly carve the pits out of four cups of cherries? Nobody, that’s who. But a cherry pitter changes everything. Place a cherry into the pitter, squeeze the handle, and the pit is ejected. Some brands (like the Oxo, $13) work on olives, too. Giving the pitter to a loved one? Make sure to hint that a cherry pie sure would be appreciated…
If you have kids, you might be familiar with the apple that comes home in the lunch box with 90 percent of the fruit still attached to the core. Junior took five or six bites and then abandoned the whole project. That’s why having an apple slicer around is a boon to the lunch-making parent. Fit the circle of blades atop an apple or pear and press down. And there you go—eight perfect slices of fruit. Even better, the Gourmia 3-in-1 kitchen cutter ($16) has three interchangeable blades: one for apples, one that pits a slippery mango in the blink of an eye, and one that makes a potato into a pile of French fries.
The Gifts that Refresh
Everyone needs to get more hydrated! But it’s just so dang hard to drink plain water. Make it easier for your gift recipient by buying them a fruit infuser water bottle (≈$15). The concept is simple: lace washed, cut fruit, veggies, and herbs in the infuser basket inside the water bottle. Fill with water and refrigerate for a few hours. The result? Flavorful, no-sugar watermelon/mint water, cucumber/citrus water, or whatever delicious combo the imagination inspires.
Is someone on your gift list looking to cut down on refined sugar, but not wanting to give up frozen treats? Consider gifting them with a Yonanas dessert maker ($50). This gadget takes frozen whole fruits and processes them into a creamy soft-serve-like dessert that’s low in calories and grams of fat. Many of the suggested desserts are based on frozen bananas, but you can use a much wider variety of fruit to make sorbets and other treats.
The season’s most craveable cookbook just happens to feature many recipes starring fruit. Sweet: Desserts from London’s Ottolenghi ($35) by Yotam Ottolenghi explores flavors that go beyond the ordinary. Saffron, orange, and honey madeleines; apricot and thyme galette; and passion fruit cheesecake are just a few of the fruity delights that Ottolenghi helps cooks whip up at home.
Say It with Fruit
Of course, the best gift for any fruit lover is always going to be a box of delicious, hand-selected, farm-fresh fruit. The FruitGuys makes purchasing holiday gifts a breeze. You can order gift boxes here: fruitguys.com/office-gift-boxes. Happy holidays!
Miriam Wolf is the editor of The FruitGuys Magazine.