Food & Drink

Ten Great Southern Mail-Order Treats

Direct-to-your-door pantry items help keep entertaining simple this holiday season

We can’t all be gourmet cooks, and even the gourmet cooks among us occasionally run out of time and energy amid the holiday season’s joyful grind. To keep the burnout at bay, it’s okay to trade kitchen duty for quality time with friends and family—and maybe an extra glass of Grandma’s famous eggnog or a bracing Bloody Mary. So this year, consider loosening the apron strings and allowing these ten talented Southern makers to lighten your workload with their collection of mail-order snacks, sweets, and other batch-made sundries. 

Snacks

Glazed Pecans

Tuck a bag of these Williams + Worthy glazed pecans into your family’s stockings or add them to a silver nut dish on the bar at your next gathering. Buy an extra bag (or three). Your guests will gobble them up, and 35 percent of the proceeds get donated to alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers in honor of the founders’ sons. $9–$32, williamsandworthy.com




Cheese Biscuits

You might never make a cheese straw again. No, really. These English-inspired cheese biscuits by Anne’s Charleston get baked from scratch by a mother-daughter duo committed to sharing their family’s favorite entertaining staple with yours. With a crisp addictive crunch and a spicy finish, they’re the perfect party snack or holiday hostess gift. $15, annescharlestoncheesebiscuits.com


Biscuit Box

Hosting the whole family for Christmas brunch? Take this tasty shortcut. The Greenville, South Carolina, artist Dorothy Shain designed the artwork for the entertaining-inspired Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit Bash Box, which includes thirty of Carrie Morey’s handmade biscuits in five signature flavors: buttermilk, sharp cheddar, iced blueberry, cinnamon, and cheese and chive. $53, calliesbiscuits.com


Popcorn 

With more than two dozen flavors, it’s hard to pick a favorite brand of the Asheville-made Poppy Popcorn, but we tend to lean toward sweet-and-salty combos like the seasonal Reindeer Crunch, where salted caramel kernels tossed with candied walnuts, cashews, and pecans, gets drizzled with locally crafted dark chocolate from French Broad Chocolate. $12–$23, poppyhandcraftedpopcorn.com

Sweets

Pound Cake

Pound cake is one of those traditional homespun desserts that falls firmly into the “best when made from scratch” category. Or it did until we tried this standout five-flavor version from Katherine Frankstone at South Carolina’s Grey Ghost Bakery. Pro tip: Lightly toast leftover slices for breakfast. It’s the holidays. We won’t tell. $24, greyghostbakery.com


Pecan Pie 

Who says pecan pie should be reserved for Thanksgiving? Not us. Chock full of North Carolina–grown pecans, Slice Pie Co.’s classic version won us over with its extra-flaky butter crust, a top-secret family recipe that’s been handed-down in the Mullins family for generations. $59, slicepiecompany.com


Chocolates

A Grand Master Chocolatier, chef Nicole Patel handcrafts her Delysia Chocolatier preservative-free delicacies in the Parisian style using ethically sourced cacao and Texas ingredients to boost her adventurous flavor profiles. Regionally and locally themed gift boxes are inspired by everything from Texas fried chicken to Hill Country barbecue, but there are also plenty of artful combinations for the traditionalist to choose from, too. Price varies, delysia.com

Meat & Cheese

Ham Box 

To supply their Nashville-based whole animal butcher shop, Porter Road founders Chris Carter and James Peisker work with a small network of vetted farms in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, where the animals are humanely raised and free from added antibiotics or hormones. The premium beef, pork, chicken, and lamb is sold locally as well as online in dozens of cuts and preparations. But for the holidays, we’re zeroing in on the company’s Half Ham Box, which features half a brined-and-smoked pasture-raised ham along with a pound each of loose sage sausage, country breakfast sausage, and pork bacon. Feeds ten people. $125, porterroad.com


Pantry Staples 

During the pandemic, the Asheville chef Katie Button and her team realized a longtime goal, which allowed them to ship their house-made sausages and cured meats nationwide. To round out your holiday charcuterie board, shop Cúrate at Home’s selection of Spanish pantry staples such as Manzanilla olives and Marcona almonds as well as wedges of Manchego and wheels of funky blue Cabrales. Price varies, curateathome.com


Beef Box

The farmers at Virginia’s Chapel Hill Farm have spent the last two decades fighting to save the Randall Lineback, one of the last remaining American landrace cattle breeds. Today, the farm’s heritage breed cows spend their entire lives outside nourished by a diet of healthy grass and pure limestone spring water. To sample the Lineback/Chapel Hill difference, order the Farm Favorites Box, which includes two Randall Lineback New York strips, a twelve-ounce package of tenderloin medallions, a pound of ground beef, and a twelve-ounce package of beef sausages. $71, randalllineback.com


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