Honolulu Holiday Gift Guide For Food Lovers

Bring these unique food-related items by Hawai‘i’s local makers to friends and your next holiday party.

December 18, 2019

Martha Cheng, Katrina Valcourt,

Photo: Martha Cheng

The Rice Factory gift sets

Go with the grain with a rice gift basket from The Rice Factory, which mills rice fresh to order for restaurants including Sushi Sho and Tonkatsu Tamafuji. Choose your preferred polish, five levels ranging from 0% (brown rice) to 100% (white), and gift sets that include rice varieties from different prefectures in Japan—many from farmers producing very small, limited batches. You can also assemble your own gift basket and throw in a sakura wood bowl and “Vivaldi miso”—miso that has been aged for one year to Vivaldi music. Tip: call ahead to preorder gift sets for pickup—milled-to-order rice takes time.

$15.99 to $80. 955 Kawaiaha‘o St., (808) 800-1520, trf-us.com

Photo: courtesy of Big Island Coffee Roasters

Wild Coffee Lovers Club

For your caffiend friends, send a coffee subscription of a diverse range of Hawai‘i-grown and roasted beans from Puna-based Big Island Coffee Roasters. You’ll get rare, member-exclusive coffees every month, which might include giant Ka‘ū Maragogype beans to tiny Maui Mokka peaberries, O‘ahu Triple Bourbon to Kona Typica. You can even specify what roast level you prefer.

Options include Taster’s Club (one 10- to 16-ounce bag of coffee, $33), Cupper’s Club (two to three coffees, $54), Roaster’s Club (three to four coffees, $105). No minimum commitment and new subscribers can get 15% off their first shipment with the code 15TASTEOFHI by Dec. 31. Learn more about upcoming coffees on Instagram: @bigislandcoffeeroasters.

bigislandcoffeeroasters.com

Photo: Martha Cheng

Saimin bowls

Scoop up these extremely limited-edition saimin bowls—which even have a notch for you to rest your hashi—made by local potter Gemma Yamamoto at Kōkua Market. Tuck in a jar of Supa Food Ikake ($3.49), a mac-nut furikake made on Big Island, for your favorite noodle lover.

$20, 2643 S. King St., (808) 941-1922

Photo: Martha Cheng

Butcher Box

’Tis the season to meat up. Send friends and family a Butcher Box, loaded with local grass-fed steaks and hamburgers plus Butcher and Bird’s locally made sausages.

Butcher Box (includes two 12-ounce rib-eye steaks, two 8-ounce strip steaks, two 6-ounce petite filet steaks, four 8-ounce burger patties, four 8-ounce sausages, $129), Beast Box (the Butcher Box plus a 24-ounce tomahawk steak, $174). Order online at hifreshbox.com/butcherbox

GK Pantry syrups

These Kaua‘i-made syrups—perfect for drenching shave ice, drizzling over ice cream, mixing into fizzy water or accenting cocktails—make terrific host and hostess gifts. Or use them for your own holiday party to create a stir. Flavors include Yuzu Elixir, Kaua‘i Sunrise (papaya, vanilla and citrus), and POG, which won a Good Food award. All syrups are made with 100% local fruit.

$16.99, buy online at gidaskitchen.com

Photo: courtesy of Sig Zane Designs

Sig Zane apron

At the new Kaiao_Space next to Sig on Smith, find this sturdy denim apron, which brings back a collaboration print between Kūha‘o Zane and the Ke Ana La‘ahana 2008 graduating class. It intersperses a pattern of koa leaves and the wake left behind a wa'a in the water, for when you’re making waves in the kitchen.

$85 at Kaiao_Space, 1018 Smith St. Check Instagram @kaiao_space for opening hours. Also available at sigzanedesigns.com

Lonohana Chocolate

For the holidays, local bean-to-bar maker Lonohana Chocolate is re-releasing its dark chocolate peppermint bar. Bundle the beautifully packaged bar with other flavors such as Lonohana’s jasmine tea bar and the 70% Kanahiku, made with cacao from Lonohana’s own North Shore estate.

From $15, 324 Coral St., Unit 104a, (808) 286-8531, lonohana.com

Photo: Shannon Fagan

Kula & Kō Pineapple Bars

There’s an entire pineapple in each box of Kula & Kō’s cake bars. For these Taiwanese-style pineapple cakes, a wonderfully crumbly crust encases a soft treasure of pineapple jam.

Boxes start at $12.95. Available at Kula & Kō International Market Place, 2330 Kalākaua Ave., (808) 426-5809, as well as Foodland Farms and Dean & Deluca, kulaandko.com

And for your keiki eaters:

Kai Goes to the Farmers Market

Catherine Toth Fox, Hawai‘i Magazine editor and former HONOLULU Magazine food and dining editor, pens this adorable children’s book that follows an initially reluctant toddler, Kai, through an early-morning farmers market journey of apple bananas and beets. Mariko Merritt’s illustrations throughout are as joyous as a bundle of lychee.

$13, available at Da Shop, 3565 Harding Ave., (808) 421-9460, dashophnl.com