In Short: Great fuss-free gift idea for someone who loves quality food or even as a treat for yourself.
There are very few people I know of, who would not appreciate a food hamper. The main attraction of hampers is knowing that there will be an assortment of food products that will please kids through to adults, and will include universal ‘crowd pleasers’ like chocolates, to sophisticated eats like cheeses and wines. I remember when I was young, our family would receive food hampers from business associates and friends at the end of the year as a Thank You or Good Will gesture. The only thing is, once the euphoria of receiving this huge present had waned, you would usually find one or two delicious items and the rest would be filler items from questionable sources or low quality.
Beston Marketplace is changing that experience by placing great focus on carefully selecting the food included in your food hamper. They take pride with the quality of produce they provide and all the items in their hamper are from boutique food providers. They are a company based in Adelaide, South Australia and they have just launched an online website where they partner with some of the top food producers to sell and showcase some of the best produce in the country. Beston’s company motto focuses on ethical, fresh, authentic, healthy and sustainable food, supporting only the industry’s best. I was impressed that all the products we sampled could be traced back to its source. With that in mind, you are guaranteed transparency to the source of food. Recipients will also love and appreciate all the top quality food that they will be receiving and indulging in.
Beston Marketplace provide hampers at various price points. For under $100 you can opt for their Cheese Gift Collection Box, which is a guaranteed to delight as it has a varied selection that would appease everyone. Our review today will cover the delights of the cheese collection box.
Firstly, the ordering process online is really simple and straightforward. Once an order has been placed, you can track your order and within a couple days it will be at your doorstep. Open the cardboard box and you will find all the food items nicely packed in an elegant black box, insulated and protected to weather the journey from their packing facilities to your home. All this is done to ensure the produce arrives to you in the best possible condition. Just to give you an idea on how good the insulation is, we monitored the ice packs and it stayed solid for 2 days after we received our hamper, quite impressive!
In the Cheese Gift Box, you will be provided with 8 premium food items.
The stars of this hamper are the cheeses. Included in the hamper is the Gouda and Cheddar Cheese from Beston’s own Edwards Crossing brand and Onkaparinga Creamery’s Brie Cheese from Adelaide. The Gouda is semi-soft, mild and delicious, great for people who are just starting to appreciate cheese and like mild flavoured cheeses. The Cheddar, on the other hand, is sharp but goes so well with crackers. As for the Brie, that is my personal favourite. The oozy, creamy and medium flavoured taste of the brie cheese is so sublime, a true reflection of the rolling Adelaide Hills from where the cheese is produced.
To go with your cheeses, Beston Marketplace has included in their hamper, a box of Tucker’s Natural rosemary and rock salt flavoured gourmet cracker and their Quince Fruit Paste from South Australia. When the crackers are eaten with the cheese, the fragrant rosemary herb and saltiness of rock salt serves to enhance the flavours of the cheese. On its own, the herb and salt hit that you get with each bite of the cracker is so addictive that you could almost forget that perhaps you should leave some crackers to accompany the cheese after all! The sweet, fruity flavours of the Quince Fruit Paste offers a contrast from the cheese, giving you a nice alternative from the usual cheese and crackers combination.
Beston Marketplace has also selected a packet of Princi Smallgoods’ Antipasto from Perth be to included in the hamper. The salami is thinly sliced with a subtle spicy peppery taste that brings out the flavours of the salami to the max. It is the perfect item to be included in your sandwich, cheese platter, or even eaten by itself. We couldn’t resist creating our own little toastie with a combination of the Princi meats on sourdough with strips of Gouda and Cheddar. The peppery flavours of the meat with salty and creamy cheese flavours is heavenly.
With all the sophisticated food, there has to be some element of fun in the hamper! That’s why Beston Market place has included in a box of Aussie Apricots’ Chocolate Dipped Apricots from Mypolonga, South Australia and 3 tubes of Buzz Honey‘s 100% Pure Australian Honey from Totness, South Australia. The chocolate dipped apricots is something that children and even adults will love, while the pure and flavourful honey is just perfect item to go with your cup of tea.
So next time when you are online looking for a gift idea or even a treat for yourself, check out Beston Marketplace’s website and support Australian Local Food producers in more ways than one.
*Coco and Vine was provided the Cheese Gift Collection Box from Beston Marketplace for this review
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