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Interesting foodstuffs made in/from Canada

TdeV

By TdeV
in Kitchen Consumer

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TdeV

TdeV

Posted
Posted

I'm looking for interesting food gifts for Canadians, maybe sometimes for myself too.

 

So far I have successfully sourced locally farmed lamb, a couple fantastic locally made cheese collections, Kozlik's Mustard, and exotic Gaspé spice blends from Spice Trekkers / Épices de Cru. Sadly none of the prior eG recommendations for Canadian chocolate seem to still exist.

 

Suggestions? :)

 

P.S. I must be able to purchase these items from afar. And then ship them to Canadians.

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lemniscate

lemniscate

Posted
Posted

I was wondering myself if Habitant French Canadian pea soup was worth a try.  I stumbled across it on Amazon.   Can a Canadian eGer advise me on this?  Is it good? With smoked ham or without?

FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, TdeV said:

I'm looking for interesting food gifts for Canadians, maybe sometimes for myself too.

 

So far I have successfully sourced locally farmed lamb, a couple fantastic locally made cheese collections, Kozlik's Mustard, and exotic Gaspé spice blends from Spice Trekkers / Épices de Cru. Sadly none of the prior eG recommendations for Canadian chocolate seem to still exist.

 

Suggestions? :)

 

P.S. I must be able to purchase these items from afar.

 

Will they be shipped within Canada? Which province? Some things would be a problem to ship outside of the country. 

 

Will they be for Canadians? I'm just wondering if things like Canadian maple syrup are desirable, it's pretty easy for Canadians to come by, but I've sent it to friends in Israel, ha. 

 

I like Saltwest for various products made from hand-harvested Canadian sea salt here on Vancouver Island and it's the type of thing that is easily shipped. 

https://www.saltwest.com/

 

There are lots of small farms that produce different things and their offerings can vary during the year. For example, here in the Comox Valley, Shamrock Farms currently has available goat milk soaps, lavender (including some culinary lavender) and seeds. 

 

I've never bought from them but Vancouver Island Gift Basket has gift baskets with locally made products. I recognize some of the products. 

 

Lots and lots of other things in various provinces and regions, but depends on what type of product and where you want to ship. 

 

For Canadian chocolate, I think @Kerry Bealis your best bet. There are commercial chocolate makers like Roger's and Purdy's but not sure that's what you are looking for. 

 

 

 

Edited by FauxPas (log)
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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, lemniscate said:

I was wondering myself if Habitant French Canadian pea soup was worth a try.  I stumbled across it on Amazon.   Can a Canadian eGer advise me on this?  Is it good? With smoked ham or without?

 

It has lard in it and I can always taste the lard. To me, it's not a great taste but I know people who love that soup. 

TdeV

TdeV

Posted
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Posted

Oh the riches! Thanks so much for the links @FauxPas and @jimb0. My goal is to send unusual food items to Canadians made by Canadians. (I've amended my original description).

 

Maple syrup would be interesting if one could find a flight of five maple syrups, which could be tasted with dry crackers alongside some bubbly, for instance.

jimb0

jimb0

Posted
Posted

depending on province, there's also a growing craft beer and wine shipping movement, though these are often limited to the province in which they're found. i'd also be on the lookout for birch syrup, not just maple. and maple butter (which is like a whipped, crystallized maple syrup - amazing to spread on buttered toast). you'll often find nun's farts for sale, especially from QC producers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pets_de_sœurs

 

and there's always the montreal bagels from st viateurs:  https://www.stviateurbagel.com

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Maple syrup would be interesting if one could find a flight of five maple syrups, which could be tasted with dry crackers alongside some bubbly, for instance.

Sugar shacks in Quebec are putting together boxes of maple products for those who can no longer attend in person.  I think you might have to be in Quebec though to take delivery of one of them. Here.

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Darienne

Darienne

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, lemniscate said:

I was wondering myself if Habitant French Canadian pea soup was worth a try.  I stumbled across it on Amazon.   Can a Canadian eGer advise me on this?  Is it good? With smoked ham or without?

We've eaten it for years.  And we've never ever 'tasted' the lard in it.  Besides as good French Pea "Soupers" , we might just like lard.  (Ed's Mother was French Canadian....and I was born and raised my formative years in Montreal.)

 

Normally for supper, I would add a can of chickpeas, parsley, grated carrot, more ground pepper, and some cooked brown rice.  Ed has added real bacon bits to his.  

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

Darienne

Darienne

Posted
Posted

Not to mention our wonderful cheddar cheeses.  

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

When I first arrived in Canada my father served me a mug of Habitant Pea Soup. Somehow I got over it because I’m still here some six decades later.  But scarred – – – badly scarred. 
 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, lemniscate said:

I was wondering myself if Habitant French Canadian pea soup was worth a try.  I stumbled across it on Amazon.   Can a Canadian eGer advise me on this?  Is it good? With smoked ham or without?

I haven't had it in years, but ate a lot of it in childhood (Mom used to keep it around...she made her own sporadically through the year, but this was the backup). FWIW, it's the "reference" brand of pea soup up here, in the same way that Heinz is the "reference" brand of ketchup.

You'd probably want to jazz it up a titch with your own bacon or ham, and/or any other garnishes you like, but the basic soup is...a good basic soup.

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

jimb0

jimb0

Posted
Posted

imo i'm not sure it's worth a special order because at the end of the day, it's just a pea soup 

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Darienne

Darienne

Posted
Posted (edited)
21 minutes ago, MokaPot said:

 

I've heard about those bagels. I'm tempted to order some. Prices seem reasonable.

We ordered some and were not really pleased.  We live in mid-Ontario and I don't really know how long they took to get here.  I grew up eating fresh Montreal bagels and I don't think they can be packaged in plastic and sent by truck or whatever and still taste good and fresh.  Montreal bagels go stale pretty quickly.  Nope.  We won't order them again.

 

Still that's only two people's opinion.  Obviously thousands love them as they are fairly popular. 

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

MokaPot

MokaPot

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Darienne said:

We ordered some and were not really pleased.  We live in mid-Ontario and I don't really know how long they took to get here.  I grew up eating fresh Montreal bagels and I don't think they can be packaged in plastic and sent by truck or whatever and still taste good and fresh.  Montreal bagels go stale pretty quickly.  Nope.  We won't order them again.

 

Still that's only two people's opinion.  Obviously thousands love them as they are fairly popular. 

 

Thank you, I'll take your word for it (won't order those bagels).

 

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Darienne said:

We ordered some and were not really pleased.  We live in mid-Ontario and I don't really know how long they took to get here.  I grew up eating fresh Montreal bagels and I don't think they can be packaged in plastic and sent by truck or whatever and still taste good and fresh.  Montreal bagels go stale pretty quickly.  Nope.  We won't order them again.

 

Still that's only two people's opinion.  Obviously thousands love them as they are fairly popular. 

 

We've actually had this discussion (Montreal bagels) once before...

I was gonna say Schwartz's, but no luck on the shipping thing.

 

How about...

 

image.png.121998b7e18bd76fb71cd3575d2de64f.png

 

 

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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jimb0

jimb0

Posted
Posted

canada post stopped doing deliveries that require ID checks during the pandemic, unfortunately, so you'd just end up making them go pick up their bud at the post office, haha

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TicTac

TicTac

Posted
Posted

Big Pharma / Gov licensed pot related stuff is garbage; not that I would know.....

 

I would suggest trying to locate some 'salmon candy' - really tasty smoked and candied wild salmon, typically from the West coast.  Perhaps fresh lobsters from the East coast.  Surely someone out there has created a poutine 'kit' you might be able to track down...

 

Besides that, Icewine (I prefer late harvest), maple syrup, back bacon,  etc are all very common 'Canadian' food stuffs. 

 

 

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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted

A couple more places that are very local to me and easily shippable. 

 

BC Tuna (also salmon and smoked oysters) 

 

Clever Crow farms (Lia's products vary through the season, she used to do her own salt harvesting and salt blends, as well as herb blends from her farm) 

 

 

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted (edited)

www.northof49birch.ca

 

sells birch syrup and a couple of blends.  I have had the birch and maple syrup blend which I liked very much.  I don't know about shipping costs - they are in Cochrane, Ontario and they were selling at a farmer's market when we were there.

Edited by ElsieD
Fixed a typo (log)
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