27 October 2026
Gingerbread Biscuits and Gingerbread Spice: A Christmas Guide
The spice mix behind gingerbread, a blend you can make tonight, why some biscuits snap and others stay soft, and the gingerbread worth buying when you would rat
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From the kitchen
The Gourmet Pantry | Foodie's Blog
Founded by foodies, The Gourmet Pantry team is dedicated to supplying the best gourmet food brands and Australia’s Best Value Gourmet Hampers to customers right across Australia.
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Here you will find loads of information about our range of gourmet food products from Australia and the world including our stunning Premium Gourmet Hamper range.
You’ll find out about our Australian and international gourmet food brands and hear more about the makers behind your favourite gourmet goodies.
We’ll share tips, recipes and updates about our huge range of delicious gourmet food to help make entertaining and celebrating with family and friends easy and fun.
Start here: Christmas
The whole Christmas set is in the stories below, newest first. These are the four things people are usually trying to work out, with the guide for each. The full plan lives in The Australian Christmas Guide.
Plan the table
Gifts and hampers
Corporate Christmas
Read The Australian Christmas Guide or shop Christmas food and Christmas hampers.
27 October 2026
Vol au Vent Fillings: 12 Ideas for Christmas
Classic chicken and mushroom, curried egg, prawn, smoked salmon and a few sweet ones. Twelve vol au vent fillings, how many to make per guest, and how to stop t
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27 October 2026
Christmas Shortbread: Types, Tins and Millionaire's Shortbread
Butter, sugar and flour, and very little else. Why shortbread belongs at Christmas, how to tell a good one, the tins worth giving, and how to make millionaire&#
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27 October 2026
What Is Aleppo Pepper? Taste, Heat and How to Use It
A fruity, oily, gently hot chilli flake and an Ottolenghi favourite. What Aleppo pepper tastes like, how hot it really is, how to use it, and what to use if you
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27 October 2026
Nutworks Macadamias: The Range, Flavour by Flavour
Sunshine Coast macadamias, roasted and flavoured. The Nutworks flavours we stock, what each one is like, the in-shell packs for cracking at the table, and how t
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27 October 2026
Balsamic Vinegar of Modena: What Density Means and How to Choose
IGP, DOP, aged, density 1.34. What the words on a bottle of balsamic vinegar of Modena actually tell you, and what to do with a good one.
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27 October 2026
What Is Black Garlic? How It's Made and How to Use It
Ordinary garlic, aged slowly with gentle heat until it turns black, soft and sweet. What black garlic tastes like, how to cook with it, and the paste, salt and
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27 October 2026
Truffle Paste, Truffle Oil and Truffle Products: What Is Worth Buying
Fresh black truffles are rare, seasonal and expensive. Truffle paste, pesto, oil, chips and nuts bring the flavour home for a fraction of the price. Here is wha
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27 October 2026
Gymkhana Fine Foods: Michelin-Starred Indian Cooking at Home
The team behind Gymkhana, the two-Michelin-star Indian restaurant in London's Mayfair, now bottle their sauces and marinades. Here is the full range and wha
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27 October 2026
Tandoori Chicken Marinade: How to Get It Right at Home
Yoghurt, spice, time and serious heat. How a tandoori chicken marinade works, how long to leave it, how to char it without a tandoor, and what to serve alongsid
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27 October 2026
Christmas Trifle: How to Build It, Layer by Layer
The Australian Christmas dessert that is made the day before and needs no oven. How to build a trifle that holds its layers, and what to use when you want somet
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27 October 2026
Christmas Cocktails: Six Drinks for an Australian Christmas
A Champagne cocktail, a pomegranate gin fizz, a frozen mango daiquiri and three more. Six Christmas cocktails built for a summer Christmas, with measures and ti
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27 October 2026
Christmas Chocolates: What to Buy, Give and Keep Cool
Truffles to share, chocolate-dipped fruit for the grown-ups, stocking fillers for the children, and how to stop it all melting in an Australian December.
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27 October 2026
Christmas Snacks: What to Put Out Before Lunch
Christmas lunch is never on time. Here is what to put out while you wait: good chips, flavoured nuts, crackers and a few sweet things, and how much of each you
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27 October 2026
Grazing Box Ideas: How to Build One at Home
Cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts and something sweet, packed in a box that travels. How to build a grazing box at home, how much to put in, and ideas for Christmas
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27 October 2026
Fruit Mince Pies: What They Are and How to Serve Them
Spiced dried fruit in buttery pastry, and a Christmas fixture for centuries. What is in fruit mince, how to make your own, and how to serve mince pies warm.
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27 October 2026
Gluten-Free Christmas Treats: What to Buy and Make
Shortbread, gingerbread, crackers for the cheese board and desserts that are naturally gluten free. How to make sure coeliac guests get the same Christmas as ev
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27 October 2026
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: How to Choose, Cook With and Store It
What extra virgin actually means, how to read a label, whether you can cook with it, why early harvest oil tastes peppery, and how to keep a good bottle fresh.
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27 October 2026
Christmas Rocky Road: How to Make It, and What to Put In
Chocolate, marshmallow and whatever else is in the pantry. How to make Christmas rocky road that slices cleanly, the best things to put in it, and how to keep i
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27 October 2026
Secret Santa Gift Ideas: Food Gifts Under $30
Food is the safest Secret Santa gift there is: everyone eats, nobody needs another mug. Gourmet food gifts under $15 and under $30, for the office or the family
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27 October 2026
Christmas Stocking Fillers for Food Lovers
Small, edible and a little bit special. Christmas stocking fillers for children, grown-ups and the cook, from gingerbread men to truffle chips and a tin of Chri
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27 October 2026
Types of Pesto: From Classic Genovese to Miso and Chilli
Classic basil Genovese, red tomato pesto, truffle and artichoke, chilli harissa and miso. The main types of pesto, what is in each, and what to do with a jar be
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27 October 2026
Christmas Table Setting Ideas for an Australian Christmas
Crackers on every plate, a natural centrepiece, platters that go from kitchen to table, and how to set a Christmas table that copes with a hot day outdoors.
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27 October 2026
Pavlova Toppings: Twelve Ideas Beyond Strawberries
Passionfruit and strawberries are the classic, but a pavlova can carry far more. Twelve pavlova toppings for Christmas, and when to add them so the meringue sta
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27 October 2026
Christmas Gifts for Foodies: 2026 Gift Guide
For the person who reads cookbooks in bed. Christmas gifts for foodies in 2026, from pantry upgrades and spice tins to tableware, cookbooks and full gourmet ham
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27 October 2026
What Is Nougat? Torrone, Soft Nougat and How It Is Made
Honey, egg white, sugar and nuts, cooked slowly into one of the oldest sweets there is. What nougat is, hard versus soft, Italian torrone, and how to serve it a
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27 October 2026
Easy Christmas Treats to Make, No Oven Needed
It is too hot to bake. Easy Christmas treats you can make without the oven, from chocolate bark and truffles to a biscuit wreath, and how to wrap them as gifts.
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23 October 2026
Christmas Gifts for the Dad Who Loves to Eat: 2026 Gift Guide
Seven Cottage Delight gift packs for the dad who loves to eat, from $29.95 stocking fillers to a six-jar Cheese Tree, with what is inside each one.
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15 October 2026
What Is Panettone?
A tall, domed Italian Christmas bread made over three days with a living sourdough starter. Here is what separates a good panettone from a cheap one.
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15 October 2026
Gluten-Free Panettone in Australia
Gluten-free panettone is one of the hardest things in baking to get right. Here is why, what separates a good one from a dry one, and how to serve it.
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28 September 2026
The Foodies Hamper: Eight Items, and What a Cook Does With Each
Eight packets, six of them sweet, and not a jar of anything in sight. What is actually in the box, and what somebody who cooks can do with each item once the ri
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27 September 2026
The Sweet Treats Hamper: The Kids-and-Grandparents Pick
Eight sweet packets that open by hand and sit on a table at room temperature, which is why this box works when a six-year-old and a grandparent have to be pleas
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26 September 2026
Just Add Cheese: Which Cheeses to Buy for the Hamper
Nine pantry items arrive and the cheese is yours to buy. Three cheeses, about 600g between them, and the box itself tells you which ones to ask for at the count
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25 September 2026
The Gourmet BBQ Hampers: With or Without the Craft Beer
One box is two Australian ales, savoury snacks and something sweet to hand round. The other is four flavour makers for the grill and nothing sweet at all. Which
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24 September 2026
Gourmet Goodies Hampers: Pick Your Pour
One box of treats, four different bottles, and a price that runs from $99.95 to $299.95. Why the food is identical in all of them, and which pour suits which re
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23 September 2026
One Bottle, One Box: The Wine and Nibbles Hampers Compared
Five boxes, two fixed food line-ups and the bottle bolted on afterwards. What separates the Nibbles hampers from the Gourmet Selection hampers, and which one su
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