10 SLO County treats perfect for your holiday gift basket
Looking for the perfect present for the foodie in your life?
Forget that boring bottle of wine. Give your loved ones — or yourself — a taste of the Central Coast with these gourmet goodies from San Luis Obispo County companies.
Products are sold in local stores or available for order online. Prices may vary.
Alle-Pia Fine Cured Meats salami
This Atascadero company sells seven varieties of hand-crafted Italian-style salami made with all-natural pork. Spice up your antipasto platter with salami sopressata, channel your inner hunter with salami cacciatore, flavored with aromatic juniper berries, or get indulgent with rich, earthy salami al tartufo, made with black summer truffles and white truffle oil
Salami cost $10 to $22, or $50 to $95 for a gift box. Other meaty treats available from Alle-Pia include guanciale, pancetta and fresh sausage.
Brown Butter Cookie Co. tea cookies
Chewy yet melt-in-your-mouth delicate, these shortbread cookies sprinkled with sea salt have been crafted in Cayucos for about a decade. Stick with the tried-and-true original — brown butter — or sample almond, cinnamon, cocoa, espresso and spice flavors; there’s also a gluten-free cocoa mint option. A dozen cookies costs $13 to $15.
Cattaneo Bros. beef jerky
Made in the same San Luis Obispo factory since 1970, Cattaneo Bros. beef jerky is the granddaddy of meaty, chewy satisfying snacks. Stick with the snack that put Catteneo Bros. on the map — thick-cut beef jerky available for $9.35 to $29 a bag in original, black pepper and teriyaki flavors — or try the company’s other offerings, including smoked beef sticks and European-style sausage. There’s even a Jerky of the Month Club for the hopelessly addicted.
Cayucos Hot Sauce
Ride a tasty wave of flavor when you add a few drops of Cayucos Hot Sauce to scrambled eggs, seafood, tri-tip or tacos. (We suggest smoked salmon tacos from Ruddell’s Smokehouse in Cayucos.) This tasty condiment, available for $4 to $7 a bottle, is crafted by surfers in the scenic beach town that shares its name.
Chaparral Gardens Artisan Vinegars
No salad, sauce or side dish is complete without a drizzle of tangy vinegar from this Atascadero company. Featuring garden-fresh flavors such as blackberry, plum basil and pear ginger and wasabi, gourmet basalmic and fruit vinegars cost $12 to $15 a bottle. Also available from Chaparral Gardens are extra-virgin olive oils inflused with basil, garlic, mandarin oranges and jalapeño peppers; bottles retail for $20 apiece.
HoneyCo Coffee Roasters coffee
Bring home the flavor of your favorite San Luis Obispo coffee shop — Scout Coffee Co., named one of California’s best small businesses of 2017 — with ground coffee from its commercial roasting company. Eight different varieties, featuring beans from Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras and Kenya, cost $12.50 to $14.95 a bag.
Mama Ganache Artisan Chocolates
Love means never having to say you’re sorry — for devouring an entire box of Mama Ganache’s detectable truffles yourself. Available for $11.95, they feature such mouth-watering flavors as cardamom ginger, Meyer lemon and maple pecan praline and are just some of the amazing sweets made by the San Luis Obispo company. Other favorites include brandied figs, toffee pistachios and turtles featuring caramel, cashews, peanut butter and brown rice crispies.
Olea Farm olive oil
From Greek koroneiki to Spanish arbequina, this Templeton farm loves olives. Savor extra-virgin olive oil in its purest form or infused with basil, tarragon, lemon and kumquat. Looking for something more unusual? Grab a bottle of Les Larmes Du Diable, a spicy blend of olive oil, hot peppers and paprika oil whose name translates to “tears of the devil.” Olive oils cost $16 to $30 a bottle; fruit-infused vinegars are $15 a bottle.
Re:Find Handcrafted Spirits kumquat liqueur
Locally harvested citrus fruit is transformed into liquid sunshine in this seasonal spirit from Re:Find, part of the popular Paso Robles Distillery Trail. Made with brandy distilled from wine grapes, the sweet-tart liqueur is the perfect addition to any cocktail; it retails for $28 a bottle.
Looking for something less fruity? In addition to limoncello and cucumber-flavored vodka, Re:Find makes gin, rye and vodka, as well as a barrel-finished vodka. (Alas, a second batch of its sold-out California-style bourbon won’t be available until late 2018.)
Root Elixirs ginger beer
As its motto suggests, this San Luis Obispo company specializes in “soda with spirit.”
Mix one of Root Elixirs’ nonalcoholic flavored sodas — ginger beer, grapefruit jalapeno or strawberry lavender — with your favorite liquor for an unforgettable cocktail. (A fourth flavor, cucumber elderflower, will be released in December.) We recommend pairing the sodas, which cost $5 a bottle, with small-batch artisinal bitters from SLO Bitter Co., also based in San Luis Obispo, for delicious results.
Sarah Linn: 805-781-7907, @shelikestowatch
This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 5:26 PM with the headline "10 SLO County treats perfect for your holiday gift basket."