Delivering Good Cheer

Bombarded with holiday promotions from chain retailers? Here's a gift option that you can feel good about: gourmet gift baskets from Graze (www.grazedelivered.com). When you buy an artisanal gift basket from Graze, you are supporting small farmers and artisans in Vermont who take pride in making their products by hand, whether it's hand-spun chocolate, handmade cheeses or pure Maple syrup tapped from local trees.  

Graze, a popular food delivery company delivering wholesome, farm-fresh foods from Vermont family farms to customers throughout Fairfield County every week, has rolled out a line of artisanal gift baskets, packed with Vermont goodies like award-winning Gouda and Cheddar, decadent handmade toffee and dark chocolate almond bark, mapled nuts, buttermilk pancake mix and pure Vermont maple syrup. 

"Gourmet gift baskets were a natural extension of the business," says Doherty-Konczal, co-founder Graze and owner of Barnum Hill Farm in Bristol, Vermont. "Our customers told us they wanted something impressive -- but not cookie-cutter -- to send to their gift lists for the holidays, so we listened and brought them gift baskets that truly represent who we are."

Graze co-founder Christy Colasurdo, of Westport, says, “When you send a gift basket to a client or to a friend, you want it to be something personal and unique, not something that looks like it came off an assembly line. Our baskets are filled with Vermont's best cheeses and specialty foods, which are all made by local artisanal producers in small batches, so they have that homespun quality. We pack everything in handmade wooden crates with natural wood stuffing and, in some cases, branded wooded cutting boards, and tie them up with pretty ribbon. We purposely designed our baskets to be more rustic than the baskets that are widely available. People have been going crazy over them."

Whether it's toffee, maple mustard, goat's milk caramel, or cranberry chutney, Colasurdo notes, “Most of the items you’ll find in our gift baskets are special because they are handmade in Vermont by small cottage producers.”

Along with a Cheese & Chocolate Gift Basket (priced at $69), the selection of bountiful baskets created by Graze includes The Green Mountain Deluxe ($99) and The Big Kahuna ($149). Designed for the ultimate 'foodies' on your gift list, the Big Kahuna features one-year aged Cheddar cheese from Shelburne Farms, Vermont Smoke & Cure pepperoni, Taylor Farm award-winning Gouda, Vermont Harvest habanero jelly (to accompany the cheese), the Mapled Nut Co. mixed nuts coated with 100-percent pure organic maple sugar, breakfast treats, and much more. 

There are also plenty of smaller themed baskets at gentle price points, such as the Tea & Cookie Assortment and Maple Love ($19), which are great for sitters, schoolteachers and as hostess gifts.

You can order online and Graze will ship anywhere in the United States. Special orders can be made in advance, too. “We want to make sure that your basket gets delivered to a corporate office or a friend's home when the recipient is there to receive it," Colasurdo says. "Also, if you live in Fairfield County, you can save on shipping by asking us to deliver your baskets directly to you so you can give them out in person. We're also happy to customize the baskets. For example, if a customer is a cheese aficionado, than we can put together a special assortment of of local cheeses and related condiments."

In addition to gourmet gift baskets, Graze’s main business is making weekly deliveries of farm-fresh eggs, cheese, milk, baked goods, pasture-raised meats and prepared dinners made by local to customers throughout Fairfield County every Monday (delivery is free) and to the mountains (Stratton, Okemo, Stowe and Sugarbush) on Fridays. You can give the gift of a week off from cooking to friends and family who live in these areas with a Graze Gift Card in any denomination.

For more information about receiving weekly deliveries and gift baskets, go to www.grazedelivered.com.  To request a Gift Catalog that highlights all of this season's offerings, send an email to gifts@grazedelivered.com or call 888-WE-GRAZE.