Surprisingly easy to make and the gift recipient will be seriously impressed. Use a
pasta machine to make your noodles, lay them out to dry, wrap 'em up, and gift them.
Jerky
Jerky makes a great gift for meat lovers, especially since you can make it in hours. Slice it, season it, throw it in a
dehydrator. Wrap it up, tie it with twine, and hand it over. They'll think it's a really big effort and you don't have to tell them otherwise.
Dry Cured Sausages
So this one is a little more time consuming, and you'll need 2-4 weeks, so if you're not seeing them until after the holidays, this is a good one. But get to work now. You'll need a
sausage stuffer and a basement.
Jam
Jam is something everyone likes, and bonus! It's not hard to make. You can make it in 10 minutes, let it set for a few more, put a lid on the jar, and gift it. If you want to can it for longer term use, that will be an extra half hour, and you'll need a
canning kit.
Wine or Cider
Another more time-consuming, huge payoff project. Different wines and ciders take different amounts of time. We especially recommend making a cider because in our experience, it only took a couple weeks until it was ready to bottle (but make sure it's ready - you don't want your gift to explode). In particular, a nice Pear Cider is perfect for the holidays. If you don't have a
wine press, you could easily use our
tomato strainer for smaller batches.
