Fortnum and Mason, the world’s most elite grocery store, is now accepting orders for its famous gift hampers for the holidays. Our choice for this year? The Imperial Hamper, priced at GB£ 5,000 (approx. US$ 7,900), is packed with an assortment of over 25 luxury treats from all over the world.
The Krug Vintage Champagne 1995 Magnum, the Château Mouton Rothschild 1988 (Pauillac) and the Château d’Yquem 1989 (Sauternes) are just three of the seven bottles of champagne and wine that the hamper holds to keep the spirits up during the holidays. To complement the wine, there are three kinds of cheeses including 800 grams of Vacherin Mont d’Or.
Looking to make some hors d’oeuvres for intimate parties at home? The Imperial comes with 6 kilograms of Organic Highgrove Ham, 2 kilograms of Joselito Pate Negra Ham, a Royal Fillet of Salmon, some Foie Gras and Oscietra Caviar. For those with a sweet tooth, a drum of the finest milk and dark truffles, a box of liquer chocolates, a Christmas pudding and 2 kilograms of fruitcake will definitely more than suffice.
To wind the celebrations down, how about a hot cup of coffee? The Imperial carries beans from Bolivia, Costa Rica and El Salvador. For non-coffee drinkers, there is a choice between Flowering China Tea and Tregothnan English Tea.
While hampers may already be ordered online, delivery will only start on December 9 to ensure that the fresh food items are in peak condition on Christmas Day.
When Halloween comes around and there is practically a license to eat as much candy as we can, we can’t help but wish we’d find more high-quality chocolates in our treats basket. That would probably depend on the neighborhood we choose to get our sweets from. We picked the top three on our list of choice cities all over the world where we would most want to go trick-or-treating based on the precious and expensive chocolates produced there.
In Neuchâtel, Switzerland, a four-year-old company creates recipes for an assortment of luxury gift items, including chocolates. DeLafée brings together two of life’s greatest indulgences: Swiss chocolate and gold. Flakes of edible 24K gold are applied by hand to each Swiss chocolate praline. The price? US$ 504 per pound.
In Dallas, Texas, we find the flagship store of Nōka where the chocolates are also handcrafted. The company prides itself in its single-estate chocolates, which simply means that each truffle, from its center to its exterior, is made of beans from a particular cacao estate. Nōka sources cacao beans from Venezuela, Ecuador, Côte d’Ivoire and Trinidad; a seasoned chocolatier would tell you that each region produces a distinctly flavored bean. This attention to flavor will set you back US$ 854 per pound.
Our trick-or-treating brings us to the town where the most expensive chocolate in the world is created – Norwalk in Connecticut. Knipschildt Chocolatier’s La Madeline au Truffe can be yours for US$ 2,600 per pound. What makes the Madeline so costly? Why, the finest ingredients, of course. There is a rare French truffle in the center surrounded by a ganache made of Valhrona dark chocolate and then dusted with cocoa powder.
Surely, Knipschildt will not part with a pound of this exquisite treat for every trick-or-treater who comes knocking on their shop door. No problem. One or two truffles will do. At US$ 250 per piece, that’s still one extravagant Halloween candy.
