The Christmas Pantry: Small Luxuries for Long Winter Days

The best gourmet holiday food brings something special to the moments around the celebration: Christmas jam for morning toast, spiced drinking chocolate after dark, festive tea when friends stop by, and seasonal ice cream for dessert. Our Christmas Pantry gathers 20 selections from trusted makers, including American Spoon, Tiptree, Maison Francis Miot, Dick Taylor, Banner Butter, Savannah Bee Company, Mariage Frères and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Some are limited holiday releases; others are established winter favorites worth stocking, serving and giving.

Our earlier taste tests inspired this special edition of Extra Fine. These makers have earned a place in our kitchens; December gives us a reason to discover another side of their work. We have not yet tasted these particular seasonal selections. The product descriptions come from the makers, while our enthusiasm begins with firsthand experience of their other offerings. Think cranberries, cardamom, peppermint and a little smoke for winter.

Extra Fine is where we hunt down the small luxuries worth the splurge—the single jar, bottle, or bar that makes an ordinary day better. Taste, curiosity and very strong opinions about the good stuff.

At a glance: Christmas pantry • 20 selections • trusted makers • limited releases and winter favorites • breakfast through dessert • small luxuries for keeping and giving

All photographs are by Pamela Thomas-Graham for Dandelion Chandelier.

the christmas pantry, stocked by people we already trust

I’m a creature of habit. Once a maker wins me over, I stay. So when an email from American Spoon landed in my inbox announcing its holiday flavors, I didn’t feel the usual December fatigue. I felt something closer to anticipation.

That is the quiet pleasure of loyalty. The makers who got jam, chocolate, butter and tea right the rest of the year tend to get December right too. They don’t need tinsel. They need cranberries, cardamom, a little spruce smoke.

A Christmas pantry also has a life beyond Christmas dinner. There are the mornings when everyone wakes at a different hour, the afternoon that calls for something hot, the friend who stops by and stays. There is the excellent prospect of opening a jar simply because it is Tuesday and already dark.

This edition follows those pleasures across the shelves, with necessary excursions into the refrigerator and freezer. The point is to discover what familiar makers do with a different season—and to have a few particularly good things in the house when it arrives.

What connects them is the pleasure of returning to someone who has already made something wonderful. American Spoon got the cherries right. Banner surprised us with its butter. Mariage Frères made the tea we want in our summer pitchers. Naturally, we want to know what happens when those same makers turn toward December.

where we would start

Three selections cover breakfast, dessert and the important business of making toast worth getting up for.

• American Spoon Holiday Jam. The release that started this whole edition, from the Michigan maker whose Sour Cherry preserves are essentially the finest cherry pie filling you will ever eat straight from a jar.
• Jeni’s Splendid Holiday Collection. Six seasonal pints, including Sticky Toffee Pudding, with enough variety to make dessert worth lingering over.
• Banner Butter Cinnamon, Cardamom & Ginger. Banner was the surprise of our first butter flight. This spiced version is a natural next discovery, preferably with warm bread already waiting.

the christmas pantry at a glance

Seasonal releases are made or presented for a particular season. Winter picks are established products chosen here for their cold-weather appeal. The distinction helps separate the things to investigate promptly from the flavors that need no holiday deadline.

jam: christmas begins at breakfast

Before the champagne, before anyone has found the serving platter, there is toast. These three makers earned their places in our pantry through fruit, fragrance and the persuasive evidence of an empty spoon. Their Christmas jars give breakfast something new to discuss.

1. american spoon holiday jam and sugar plum jam.

American Spoon makes its preserves in Petoskey, Michigan, in small copper-kettle batches. Its Sour Cherry was a standout in our exploration of the world’s best luxury jams: whole fruit, a proper tartness and the immediate temptation to find a larger spoon.

Holiday Jam brings figs, sour cherries and cranberries together with orange, ruby port, brandy and warming spices. There is enough going on in that jar to suggest several destinations: cheese, a turkey sandwich, the last piece of bread after dinner.

Sugar Plum Jam takes a different turn, combining Michigan plums with crushed pineapple, brandy and holiday spices. The pineapple is the unexpected detail, and a good reason to open the jar.

Both are limited seasonal releases. Holiday Jam would be our first choice for the table; Sugar Plum is the one to reserve for a slow morning. They share a maker, but they have different assignments.

2. wilkin & sons tiptree christmas conserve.

Tiptree’s Little Scarlet Strawberry was thick with fruit and beautifully fragrant in our taste test. On a warm scone with clotted cream, it would be paradise. That is a substantial introduction to the house’s Christmas Conserve.

The festive recipe combines plums, damsons, red currants and sultanas with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and a little chili powder. It is a properly elaborate Christmas jar, with possibilities beyond toast: pastries, cheese, something warm from the oven.

There is something particularly appealing about a familiar English preserve house allowing itself a little December excess. The fruit remains the foundation; the spice cupboard has simply been invited to breakfast.

3. maison francis miot confiture de noël.

Maison Francis Miot’s Cœur d’Amour was one of the pleasures of our jam tasting: fragrant, generous and entirely welcome on toast. The house’s Christmas seasonal jam, available through The French Farm, moves toward figs, dried apricots, raisins, candied oranges, almonds and rum.

The French Farm connects the recipe to the thirteen desserts of Christmas in Provence. That gives the jar a cultural reference as well as a flavor proposition: the dried fruit, nuts and citrus of a traditional Christmas table gathered into something spreadable.

This is the most dessert-minded of the three preserves. A breakfast jar, certainly, but also one to bring out with cheese when nobody quite wants the evening to end.

hot chocolate: a reason to come home

The best winter cup has some weight to it. It asks you to sit down, and perhaps to abandon the idea that anything useful needs to happen afterward. These four makers earned our attention in earlier tastings; their winter variations offer four different ways to spend the evening.

4. dick taylor peppermint drinking chocolate.

Dick Taylor finished second in our first hot chocolate flight. Its Peppermint Drinking Chocolate, available at Bar & Cocoa, therefore has more than a festive name working in its favor.

The formula brings crushed peppermint candy into the maker’s drinking chocolate. That is the attraction: a serious chocolate base, with the holiday arriving through peppermint.

Of the four cups here, this is the most immediately Christmas-minded. It belongs to the evenings when the wrapping paper has taken over the room and the sensible response is to stop for something hot.

5. ritual cozy cabin blend 55%.

Ritual’s Cozy Cabin Blend combines 55% chocolate with orange, cardamom and vanilla. It is the gentler chocolate percentage in this little group, with an ingredient list that makes a persuasive case for lingering.

Cardamom is the draw. It can give a familiar sweet something aromatic and slightly unexpected, especially alongside citrus. Ritual already made a drinking chocolate we liked; this seasonal blend is a logical next cup.

Cozy Cabin is a seasonal release, with preorder and dispatch timing dependent on the seller. It sounds particularly suited to the stretch of winter when leaving the apartment starts to feel unnecessarily ambitious.

6. chocolate tree winterspice 70%.

Scottish maker Chocolate Tree’s Winterspice 70% begins with Peruvian cacao and adds cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, aniseed and cloves, along with orange and lemon oils.

The maker describes it as gingerbread-spiced hot chocolate. The darker chocolate and citrus make it an intriguing prospect for someone who wants the spices to have a substantial base beneath them.

Chocolate Tree earned its place in our earlier tasting. Winterspice is included for its winter character, without a claim that it vanishes with the Christmas decorations. January has just as much need of a good cup.

7. fruition cinnamon brown sugar sipping chocolate.

Fruition’s Cinnamon Brown Sugar Sipping Chocolate has a comforting name and a rather more interesting ingredient list. Alongside chocolate, cinnamon and brown sugar are cardamom, ginger, black pepper and smoked star anise.

Smoked star anise is the detail that earns a second look. The familiar cinnamon-and-sugar invitation has something further to offer.

Fruition was another maker we liked in our tasting. This is the version to investigate when the evening calls for baking spices but emphatically does not call for baking. Our broader hot chocolate guide explores the category; these winter variations are the next tempting chapter.

butter and honey: the morning deserves something

8. banner butter cinnamon, cardamom & ginger.

Banner Butter was the surprise of our first butter flight. Among the pleasures of exploring gourmet butter was discovering just how much personality something so familiar can possess.

Its Cinnamon, Cardamom & Ginger butter swirls those spices and a little sugar into cultured butter. This is an established flavor, particularly welcome in a winter breakfast.

The appeal is immediate: a bought scone, warm toast, perhaps a pancake made by someone more qualified. The butter supplies the occasion. Christmas morning could begin very happily at that level of effort.

Banner is also our choice to consider for a butter gift by mail. Arrange proper cold delivery and prompt refrigeration, then let the recipient decide how much of it they intend to share.

9. savannah bee company winter white honey.

Savannah Bee’s tupelo honey has an exquisite, buttery flavor, one of the reasons the company stayed with us after our gourmet honey exploration.

Winter White Honey is a different proposition: pale, whipped wildflower honey with the snowy appearance that makes the name feel entirely justified. The company presents it as a seasonal favorite, and it has an obvious place on the Christmas breakfast table.

Set it beside a dark preserve and the contrast alone is lovely. Breakfast has its own winter palette: ivory honey, burgundy fruit, golden butter, the amber of tea in a glass cup. Very little cooking is required to make that feel like an occasion.

december, poured

A good holiday drinks cupboard accommodates several moods. There is the afternoon cup, the bottle for dinner, the aperitif while everyone is still standing around the kitchen. Each deserves something worth pouring, including when nobody wants alcohol.

10. mariage frères noël amour and esprit de noël.

Mariage Frères’ French Summer Tea is a house favorite for pitcher tea and an excellent host gift. That allegiance, recorded in our iced tea guide, makes the house’s winter offerings especially interesting.

The Noël Amour collection offers Christmas fruits and spices on black tea, white tea, blue tea and red rooibos bases. Alongside it sits Esprit de Noël, the established festive black tea.

The choice of bases is useful. A Christmas tea can be a morning cup, an afternoon ceremony or a rooibos infusion later in the evening. The collection supplies the seasonal novelty; Esprit de Noël supplies the pleasure of an old tradition.

11. saicho osmanthus sparkling tea.

Saicho is our dinner bottle among sparkling teas. Its Osmanthus expression uses autumn-harvested Tie Guan Yin oolong from China, scented with osmanthus blossoms.

The maker describes apricot and floral notes with gentle tannins. The interest is in the structure tea can bring to a dinner drink: something to accompany food and unfold through the meal.

This seasonal expression belongs at the table, in the good glasses. Saicho was one of the discoveries in our sparkling drinks field guide, and this bottle is a particularly appealing reason to revisit it when the dinners move indoors.

12. olipop pomegranate sparkle.

Olipop’s Pomegranate Sparkle combines pomegranate, quince and passion fruit in a limited holiday flavor.

The brand already has a place among our functional refreshers, but the fruit combination is the reason for this particular inclusion. Quince is a welcome complication in a seasonal soda, and a cold can is useful when nobody wants another elaborate drink.

This is for the casual side of holiday hosting: the kitchen conversation, the afternoon visitor, the moment when someone simply wants a soda. A well-stocked refrigerator should be able to answer that request without a presentation.

13. de soi st. moritz mule.

De Soi’s St. Moritz Mule combines pomegranate, cranberry, ginger and rosemary in a nonalcoholic aperitif. It is an established flavor with an unmistakably winter-minded name.

De Soi already has a place in our alcohol-free aperitif repertoire. This version belongs to the hour before dinner: something over ice while coats are being collected and the conversation is still finding its shape.

The fruit and ginger do the seasonal work. The St. Moritz reference is a pleasant extra, particularly if the actual après-ski experience consists of coming home from a cold walk in excellent boots.

christmas has more than one accent

14. shaquanda’s sorrel hot pepper sauce.

Shaquanda’s Hot Tropic impressed us in our hot sauce taste test because the fruit came through clearly. The heat had a reason to be there.

Sorrel Hot Pepper Sauce, made with Burlap & Barrel spices, draws on the hibiscus drink associated with Caribbean Christmas celebrations. It combines strawberries, cherries, habanero and six single-origin spices, with hibiscus providing its remarkable berry-rose color.

This is one of the most interesting bottles in the edition. Christmas flavor encompasses far more than peppermint and gingerbread, and sorrel brings another tradition to the pantry. It also gives the savory side of the holiday something to work with, particularly once the leftovers arrive and the appetite wants a little brightness.

a little smoke for the winter table

15. saltverk birch smoked sea salt.

Saltverk makes clean, mineral, slightly austere Icelandic flakes, using geothermal energy in its production. Its Birch Smoked Sea Salt adds birch smoke to that foundation.

It is an established flavor, chosen here because smoke belongs naturally to winter. The jar has no need to announce Christmas to earn a place beside the bread and butter.

Our finishing salt guide explores the differences between these small, consequential ingredients. Saltverk’s appeal is its sense of place. This version adds another reason to keep it within reach when the table turns toward richer food and longer evenings.

spice: the house begins to smell different

16. curio spice co. mulling kits.

Curio was the most useful shop for bakers in our spice-shop taste test, with inventive blends that made familiar ingredients feel newly interesting. Its mulling spices extend that invitation to those of us more likely to warm cider than make pastry.

The Botanist Mulling Kit combines warming spices with chamomile, rose, elderflower and grapefruit. The Flame Mulling Kit moves toward citrus, traditional warming spices and a little chili heat.

Each includes a muslin bag and enough spice for a gallon of cider or two bottles of wine. That is a satisfying amount of hospitality in a small package. Botanist would be our afternoon choice; Flame sounds particularly good for an evening when everyone arrives cold.

17. diaspora co. gingerbread spice.

Diaspora Co. earned our attention through provenance, color and aromatic intensity. Its Gingerbread Spice combines ginger, cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg and cloves.

The pepper matters. Gingerbread should have a little bite; sugar is perfectly capable of taking care of itself.

The blend is intended for cookies, lattes, baking and winter breakfasts. For a committed baker, the uses are obvious. For the rest of us, there is the possibility of giving something ordinary—a bowl of oatmeal, a weekend breakfast—a more interesting December life. Someone else has already done the measuring, which improves the odds considerably.

the freezer has been expecting december

18. jeni’s splendid holiday collection.

Jeni’s is the safest ice cream choice that is still interesting. That is a compliment: dependable pleasure with enough imagination to make opening the next pint feel like an event.

The Splendid Holiday Collection brings together six limited-time flavors inspired by holiday desserts and drinks:

• Sticky Toffee Pudding: the new arrival, with vanilla and date custard, brown sugar cake and toffee sauce.
• Cranberry Panettone with Chocolate Sprinkles: brioche-scented custard with cranberry-orange jam and chocolate sprinkles.
• Pistachio Macaron: roasted pistachio cream inspired by the French confection.
• White Chocolate Peppermint: peppermint ice cream with white chocolate freckles.
• Boozy Eggnog: egg custard with nutmeg and whiskey.
• Black Tie Tiramisu: mocha and mascarpone ice creams with ladyfinger cookies and chocolate.

The range is the point. There is a pint for the peppermint loyalist, one for the person who orders tiramisu whenever it appears, and a new British-dessert prospect for the rest of the table.

Jeni’s ships its ice cream with dry ice to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It remains one of the most useful discoveries in The Freezer Edit: dessert handled, with choices.

19. mcconnell’s martinelli’s apple cider & cranberry jam.

McConnell’s makes quiet, serious dairy with restrained flavors. Its returning Martinelli’s Apple Cider & Cranberry Jam collaboration infuses sparkling apple cider into its milk-and-cream base, with ribbons of house-made cranberry jam.

The partnership brings together two California names, and the flavor has a clear Thanksgiving association. There is no reason to withdraw apple and cranberry from consideration immediately afterward.

This is the pint to put beside pie, or serve alone when dinner has already made its point. McConnell’s ships frozen with dry ice to the lower 48 states; check the current minimum order and delivery schedule before arranging a gift.

one worth watching for

20. jacobsen salt co. sea salt and pepper grinder.

Jacobsen is the modern American counterpart to Maldon in our pantry thinking: a maker whose everyday salts have earned their place. Its holiday Sea Salt and Pepper Grinder combines coarse Italian sea salt with pink and green peppercorns.

It is one grinder, with the peppercorns supplying the festive color. The usefulness would continue long after the holiday packaging elsewhere has become tiresome.

The maker’s listing is currently marked unavailable, so this remains a restock watch. It is exactly the sort of small, practical gift worth remembering: something to keep near the stove and actually finish.

the one that got away: halen môn christmas tree sea salt

Halen Môn harvests Welsh sea salt from the waters around Anglesey. Its Little Ceramic Jar with Christmas Tree Sea Salt contains salt smoked over spruce, packed in a forest-green ceramic jar with a wooden spoon.

It is the most adorable thing in this entire edition.

The maker suggests it with savory food or blended into butter, which makes Christmas morning crumpets a particularly compelling possibility. We have not confirmed a dependable U.S. source for this specific seasonal jar.

That is not fair, and I’d like to speak to someone about it. If the U.K. is on your itinerary, this belongs on your shopping list. There is something deeply satisfying about returning from a trip with a small, useful object that you can only purchase there.

the practical pleasures: ordering, shipping and giving

Order the limited releases you genuinely want when they are available. Holiday jams, Christmas teas and seasonal ice creams do not operate on our personal shopping schedules. Stock can differ between a maker’s own shop and its retailers, so the purchase links matter more than assumptions about when a seasonal product ought to appear.

Coordinate butter and ice cream deliveries with the recipient, and follow the maker’s refrigeration or freezing instructions. A brief message about timing preserves the pleasure of the gift. The surprise can be what is inside the box.

Jam, honey, tea, salt and spices are easier to give, with individual storage instructions and best-before dates still worth observing. One excellent jar needs very little embellishment. When pairing two things, give them a shared purpose: breakfast jam and tea, drinking chocolate and a mug, mulling spices and cider.

leave something good in the cupboard

The year-round Extra Fine collection is how we found these makers in the first place. Returning to them for the holidays feels a little like going back to a favorite restaurant when the menu changes. The trust is already there; the pleasure is discovering what comes next.

The best food gifts continue into ordinary life. The tea opened after the guests leave. The spice tin still useful in February. The jar that makes breakfast feel considered when the calendar has stopped insisting on celebration.

Give a few things away. Keep a few. Somewhere in the quiet days after Christmas, there should still be one unopened jar you are pleased to remember.

faqs:

what should you put in a christmas pantry?

A Christmas pantry can include seasonal jams, winter drinking chocolate, festive tea, honey, mulling spices and savory additions such as smoked salt or hot sauce. Our Extra Fine edit also includes refrigerated butter and frozen ice cream. American Spoon, Mariage Frères, Banner Butter and Jeni’s are starting points for holiday breakfasts, drinks, dessert and gifts.

which christmas jams are worth considering as gifts?

American Spoon’s Holiday Jam and Sugar Plum Jam, Tiptree’s Christmas Conserve and Maison Francis Miot’s Christmas seasonal jam are festive offerings from makers that impressed us in earlier taste tests. Their recipes include combinations of cherries, cranberries, figs, spiced plums and dried fruit. The French Farm offers the Francis Miot Christmas jam in the United States.

which products in this christmas pantry guide are seasonal?

American Spoon’s holiday jams, Jeni’s Splendid Holiday Collection, Olipop Pomegranate Sparkle and Savannah Bee’s Winter White Honey are seasonal offerings. Other selections, including Banner Butter’s Cinnamon, Cardamom & Ginger and Saltverk’s Birch Smoked Sea Salt, are established flavors chosen for their winter appeal. Seasonal status does not guarantee availability through a particular date.

can you ship ice cream or butter as a christmas gift?

Yes, when ordering from makers or retailers equipped for cold shipping. Jeni’s ships ice cream with dry ice to all 50 states and Washington, D.C.; McConnell’s ships to the lower 48 states. Banner Butter is our butter-gifting choice. Check delivery deadlines and arrange for the recipient to refrigerate or freeze the gift promptly.

what are good nonalcoholic drinks for a christmas gathering?

Saicho Osmanthus Sparkling Tea is our dinner-table prospect, De Soi St. Moritz Mule is the aperitif option, and Olipop Pomegranate Sparkle is a seasonal soda with pomegranate, quince and passion fruit. For warm drinks, consider Mariage Frères’ Christmas teas or Curio’s mulling spices prepared with apple cider.

what is christmas tree sea salt?

Halen Môn’s Christmas Tree Sea Salt is Welsh sea salt smoked over spruce. The seasonal product comes in a small ceramic jar with a wooden spoon. The maker suggests using it with savory dishes or blending it into butter. We have not confirmed a dependable U.S. source for this particular jar.

have you taste-tested the holiday flavors in this guide?

Our earlier taste tests included products from every maker featured here, but we have not yet tasted these particular holiday and winter selections. Their descriptions reflect information from the makers and retailers. This is a seasonal discovery edition informed by firsthand experience with the brands, rather than a comparative taste test of the featured releases.