Your Local Holiday Gift Guide 2018

CHOCOLATE: Here’s an edible gift everyone loves! Cao Chocolates makes bean-to-bar specialties, using different origins so you can sample the variations. Buy at his Pinecrest store, at Milam’s Markets or online. Little Havana’s Exquisito Chocolates sells bon-bons and tours of their chocolate factory so your gift recipient can learn about their source farms. In South Miami, Garcia-Nevett’s lovely minimalist space features their bonbons, cocoa and other products in the front, with chocolate-making in the back.

FOR CARNIVORES AND PESCATARIANS: Proper Sausages in Miami Shores is beloved for their housemade sausages (and sandwiches, and heritage meats, and artisan foods, cheeses and wines) – and they ship. At Gaucho Ranch, grass-fed beef and heritage poultry are a welcome gift and addition to the holiday dinner tables. They also sell yerba mate and grilling supplies. In Palmetto Bay, Babe's Meat and Counter sells housemade sausages and cured meats plus a curated collection of cheeses and Canadian specialties.

WINE, BEER AND SPIRITS: Our wine writer, Jeffrey Wolfe, astounds us with his depth of knowledge about wines and the foods they go with, so you'll be in good hands. Bonus reason to visit Wolfe’s Wine Shoppe in Coral Gables – his two golden retrievers, Magnum and Jeroboam. In Homestead, Schnebly Redland’s Wine and Brewery uses local fruits in many of their products, including lychee, guava and avocado. Key West's First Legal Rum Distillery sells rums aged in salt-cured barrels, plus other rum-flavored swag and foods, like rum cakes and rum balls.

FRESH FRUITS AND VEGGIES: Shipping a box of navel oranges to friends in the frozen North is a favorite Florida tradition. But you can do more! Along with that citrus, you can send relatives dragonfruit, avocado and other tropical treats. Robert Is Here in Homestead has been shipping fruit for years. Order online, but if you visit their Florida City shop, you can treat yourself to a key lime shake. (And listen to Robert talk about unusual fruits on our Tastes of the Tropics podcast.) New on the scene is Taste of Redland, shipping seasonal and always local produce, including Persian limes, starfruit, avocado, dragonfruit, guava, sapodilla and honey, throughout Florida for a fixed price. Miami Fruit ships boxes of tropical fruits, including (when available) bananas, passion fruit and more unusual offerings, like gamboge.

Garden and Plants

For a gift that keeps on giving, consider a backyard garden stocked with edible produce. All of these vendors sell plants that thrive in South Florida, provide advice and installation and supplies like fertilizer and compost:
• Ready-to-Grow Gardens  installs raised-bed gardens, mini farms and food forests and offers classes and sells organically grown plants too.  
• Urban Oasis Project offers GIVE (Gardens Inspiring Volunteerism and Education) gardens that you can sponsor for families in need.
• Little River Cooperative not only sells produce grown at their urban farm, they also install edible gardens for restaurants like Mandolin Aegean Bistro and Essensia in Miami Beach.
• Going Bananas in Homestead is the definitive source on all things banana: plants, fertilizer, advice and even recipes. Don and Katie Chafin are on hand to help. The nursery is open Mon, Tues, Fri. and Sat or buy online.

Make an Artisan Gift Basket

Put together a box or basket of foods and gift items from your favorite artisans. Farmers markets are a good source for gifts, including soaps, candles, beeswax items, plants, pottery and other local stocking stuffers.
• Baked goods from Zak the Baker in Wynwood, Madruga Bakery in Coral Gables and JW Pastry in Davie.
• Christmas baskets from Zaytouna, Middle Eastern sweets made by Syrian refugee women

• Vegan gluten-free treats from Courtney’s Cookies, and Lily & Pip's
• Pet treats from Happy Dog Bakery
• Local honey from Farmers Market Honey

• Kombucha! Pick up freshly brewed booch from these local artisans:

CounterCulture has a stand at the Pinecrest Farmers Market and other locations throughout South Florida (check website).

Angry Booch has a booth at the Saturday Legion Park Farmers Market as well as their Palmetto Bay Store.

Kombulicious is sold at multiple outlets throughout South Florida; check website for locations.

Housewares and Gift Shops

Mima’s Market in Miami Shores sells nothing but local foods, handicrafts, beer, kombucha, sweets and much more, the perfect place to put together a gift basket for your favorite locavore. In South Miami, Isabel is your headquarters for thoughtful and whimsical houseware items – glasses, napkins, artwork, serving pieces – all lovingly hand-selected. In Coral Gables, Erica Guzman of Aragon 101 travels the world for unique housewares and accessories (and sign up for her popular cooking classes while you're at it!). 

Organic mattresses and bedding are a serious investment in your well-being and a long-lasting gift you can give yourself and/or your loved one. At the serene showroom of SEB Mattress in Coconut Grove, you’ll get expert, low-key counsel and the chance to try out what feels best for you, plus white-glove service.

Great gift shops carry items with local flavor at all price levels. Our favorites include:
• Miami Beach Botanical Garden: One of the best curated gift shops we’ve seen, with Florida and botanical themes and an exuberant sense of whimsy. 
• Books and Books at the Coral Gables Museum: A small space packed with eclectic offerings. And for books, just head next door.
• Redland Fruit and Spice Park: Find books, tropical foods, vintage posters, even handmade ornaments from dried plants from the property.

Local Flavors

We wrote about Martha of Miami in our Cuba in Miami issue and her fun t-shirts (Cuban Bred, Raised on Croquetas), onesies, mugs and phone cases. Since then, she’s come up with even more fun items, like Vivaporu Crew Socks (¡cura todo!).

Burger Beast is selling Decade of the Beast t-shirts online. You can also pre-order his All About the Burger, a History of America’s Favorite Sandwich, out mid-April.

A subscription to edible South Florida!  Your recipient will get four issues a year delivered via first-class mail – perfect for locals and out-of-towners who want to stay in touch with South Florida happenings.