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SEAFOOD
MEDALLION SMOKED SALMON
Smokedsalmon.isn.net
From their small smokehouse outside Charlottetown, Kim Dormaar and his family have developed a reputation for superlative smoked salmon: firm, buttery and fragrant with the delicate aromas of alder wood. They also supply all the other ingredients of a head-turning smoked-seafood platter - sweet whole scallops, meaty eel fillet, and garlic-flavoured lobster tail.
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Prices are in line with quality: $49.95 for a side of cold-smoked Atlantic salmon, $79.95 for a varied party pack, plus shipping.
John Allemang
SPECIALTY GOODS
RIVERBEND PLANTATION
GOURMET FOODS
SaskatoonBerry.com
This Saskatoon-based outfit makes Saskatoon berry jams, jellies and vinaigrettes. There is even buffalo pemmican with Saskatoon berries. The most popular items are Saskatoon berry Belgian chocolates and custom gift baskets made with whatever combination of berry products customers desire. Standard delivery is three days within Canada; packages can be sent overnight at additional cost.
Heather Sokoloff
EXPERIMENTAL SWEETS
DC DUBY WILD SWEETS
DCDuby.com
Cookies for Santa Claus? How passé. Why not tickle his whiskers with foaming passion-fruit pearls? Vancouver's acclaimed molecular pâtissiers Dominique and Cindy Duby sell a full range of calcium chlorides and sodium alginates needed to spin chocolate into "caviar" or whip raspberries into gels. The science tasting kits, $125 and available through their virtual boutique, include a recipe booklet, DVD and all the cutting-edge ingredients required to create four flights of dessert experiments. Chemistry class never tasted so deliciously weird.
Alexandra Gill
PEI OYSTERS
COLVILLE BAY OYSTER CO.
ColvilleBayOysterCo.ca
The renowned Colville Bay oysters (pronounced Co'ville) come from the quiet eastern end of Prince Edward Island near the town of Souris, where tourists are few and sightings of Anne of Green Gables merchandise are still extremely rare. The Flynn family, who also sell lobsters and quahogs, ship boxes of the sweet, briny, cultured Colvilles between July and January - a container of 120 oysters with their distinctive blue-green shells costs $85 plus express shipping via Canada Post (generally between $40 and $50). The company's website is shy on ordering information: For more details, call
902-687-2222 or 902-687-3640.
J.A.
BAGELS
ST. VIATEUR BAGEL
StViateurBagel.com
Visitors to the original St. Viateur Bagel Shop in Montreal's always engaging Outremont neighbourhood may wonder why the legendary emporium stays open round the clock, seven days a week. The answer - at least the part that doesn't focus on the deliciousness of the moist, dense, hand-rolled bagels - is that the wood-burning hearths are busy serving a nationwide clientele of Montreal-style aficionados. St. Viateur ships its lightly coated sesame and poppy-seed rings both separately and in a mixed case. The minimum order is six dozen (for $36.60), and while the company's website touts the bagel's keeping qualities for those who want to make the experience last, online shoppers may prefer to club together with like-minded devotees.
J.A.
SPECIALTY GOODS
FORBES WILD FOODS
WildFoods.ca
Jams, jellies and preserves are favourites for holiday gift-givers, but the old standbys become much more attention-getting when they're sourced from Forbes Wild Foods. For the next holiday episode of When Good Gifts Go Wild, consider the company's collection of out-of-the-way products including jellied chokecherry and cloudberry compote, cattail hearts and pickled milkweed pods, syrups made from birch and black locust flower, and vinegars based on Saskatoon berries and Labrador tea leaves. Forbes also sells uncommon dried mushrooms such as velvet shank, black trumpet and matsutake as well as dried Ontario sweet chestnuts and Canadian wild rice. Holiday gift baskets available, starting at $50.
J.A.
LUXURY GOODS
HYPER GOURMET
HyperGourmet.com
This Montreal-based company ships luxury food items all over the world. There is Quebec-made foie gras in block, mousse and pâté forms, as well as duck rillettes - a course pâté - as well non-meat specialties such as 750-millilitre drums of A l'Olivier olive oil and pink salt from the Himalayas. Products are from Quebec as well as Europe, such as Armorine salty caramels from France, smoked paprika from Spain and Italian coffees.
H.S.
DELICATESSEN
LESTER'S DELI
LestersDeli.com
Montreal smoked meat can be enjoyed across the country, accompanied by coleslaw, dill or half-sour pickles, karnatzel and peppers. Precut sandwiches or whole briskets can be ordered, as well as loaves of rye bread and jars of yellow mustard. A special section for former Montrealers also promises same-day publications of the Montreal Gazette and a Jos. Louis or a May West confection for a truly authentic experience. Overnight delivery orders (placed before 2 p.m. eastern time, Monday to Thursday) arrive in vacuum-sealed packages tucked into Lester's signature red cardboard sandwich boxes.
H.S.
B.C.'S BOUNTY
EDIBLE BRITISH COLUMBIA
Edible-BritishColumbia.com
Wistful for the West Coast? Eric Pateman and Cecilia Yong have combed all corners of British Columbia to create a one-stop shopping destination for local gourmet goodies. This online store, an extension of the Granville Island boutique, sells more than 600 artisanal food products: everything from birch syrup to wine-marinated smoked sockeye salmon. Familiar brands include Thomas Haas sparkle cookies, Vikram Vij's spice blends, Salt Spring coffee and preserved cherries from Mission Hill winery. Custom-order gift baskets can be shipped across the country.
A.G.
ARTISANAL CHEESE
SHAY CHEESE
ShayCheese.ca
Cheese enthusiast Andy Shay puts together monthly selections of hard-to-find fromages, including some of the best from Quebec's new-wave producers, and makes them more accessible to the rest of Canada. Among the cheeses available next month (shipped Dec. 5, 12 and 19): triple-crème Riopelle, four-year-old raw-milk cheddar, the nutty, semi-soft Pont Couvert, made from Jersey cows' milk, and Fromages Chaput's potent Quebec Vacherin, which in the seasonal spirit comes wrapped with spruce bark. A box of five cheeses, serving six to eight people, costs $85. An added bonus for the cheese lover who has everything: a collection of rarely seen and (perhaps deservedly) underappreciated 19th-century Ontario cheese poems.
J.A.
