Ari’s Top 30 of 2025: Part 2
Psst: Did you miss Part 1? Find it here.
11. Zingerman’s Food Tours Make Terrific Gifts
A week of tasting terrific, traditional, full-flavored food at its source
If you want to go big on a gift this year, it’s for me to imagine anything more exciting than a seat (or two) on a Zingerman’s Food Tour. No matter which of the 15 different destinations you choose—Spain, Italy, Ireland, Oaxaca (Mexico), Korea, or Catalunya—the voyage is guaranteed to be beyond great. Visit with small artisan producers you’re unlikely to find on your own; meals cooked for the group in home kitchens; behind-the-scenes winery tours, and so so so much more! Imagine coming to the Deli for the first time and finding all those amazing artisan foods staring you in the face? And then imagine finding out for the first time that we have all of them open to taste? Now take all that and imagine doing that tasting in the places in which those foods were crafted. And having that tasting guided by the people who make them! Add in some remarkable scenery, beautiful farmers markets, and maybe a little local music, and … you’re starting to get the idea of what a Zingerman’s Food Tour is like!
12. Cultured Butter Croissants from the Bakehouse
A Bakehouse classic uses better butter to get even better than ever!
We’ve been making croissants for nearly 30 years now! And to be clear, they have always been really, really good. Nevertheless, in the last few months, we’ve done what we’ve done thousands of times over our now nearly 44 years in business—make a meaningful quality improvement to raise the flavor bar on a product that was already widely appreciated. By starting to use the Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter in the croissants, what has long been really good, just got better still. As we say so often, you really can taste the difference! The flavor and aroma are both bigger, more complex, and more buttery. Try it for yourself—break one open and stick your nose in to take in the aroma! To my taste—I should smell—they are remarkable. And the flavor follows suit!
P.S. Same goes for the Juliet Almond Croissants, Chile Cheddar Croissants, Parmesan and Prosciutto Croissants, and the terrific Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate Croissants) that we make with dark chocolate from French Broad Chocolate Company in Asheville! Kudos to the Bakehouse on taking classic croissants to incredible new heights of flavor!
13. Ginger Scones from the Bakehouse
A luscious little bit of buttery baked goodness to brighten your day
Although we’ve been baking these beauties for many years now, they remain a bit of what we call a “Zecret”—many long-time customers who are well-versed in the world of Zingerman’s know them well and love them. But for a first-time visitor, though, they’re easy to miss.
The scone dough itself is incredible (as retired Bakehouse co-founder Frank Carollo would always say, “just enough flour to hold the butter and heavy cream together”), and that’s spiked with spicy cubes of crystallized ginger from the South Pacific (which means they’re dipped into sugar syrup then dusted with coarse sugar crystals). And now, just like those better-than-ever French Croissants, we’ve begun making the scones—Ginger, Currant, and Lemon—with that terrific Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. And once again, what was already great got better still! It’s hard to imagine, but they are even more buttery than ever!
The ginger is lively but not dominant; the butter is rich but not over-the-top. Beautifully balanced, comfortably complex, and with a lovely long finish, the ginger scones are the epitome of how we think of “full flavor” here at Zingerman’s. A quick and easy way to add a bit of world-class eating to your day! You can buy ginger scones at the Bakeshop, Deli, and Roadhouse every day. And thanks to the Mail Order crew, we’re shipping more and more of these classic tastes of Zingerman’s to pastry lovers all over the country with each passing year!
PS: If you want to bake Ginger Scones at home, pick up a copy of Zingerman’s Bakehouse!
14. Newly Arrived Olive Oil from Western Greece
Outstanding organic olive oil from Navarino Icons
Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos was born in 1935 in the small village of Diavolitsi in Messenia in the southwest of Greece, due north of the town of Kalamata, and due east of the island of Sicily. As a young man, he was forced to flee the village for Athens during the Greek Civil War in the late 1940s. He went on to become a leading Greek businessman, most of his work centering around shipping, sailing, and the seacoast. Navarino was one of the capstones of his long and creative career. It’s the leading sustainable resort on the Mediterranean!
The Navarino Icons segment of their work is very aligned with our longtime focus here at Zingerman’s on full-flavored and traditional foods. Offering, as they say, “Authentic food products inspired by the culinary history of the Peloponnese region, they are true to Captain Constantakopoulos’ hope to honor the kind of simple and delicious country dishes he grew up on.
Last year, we scored some of their limited-edition, single-estate extra virgin olive oil. It’s made from the beloved, native-to-Greece, Koroneiki olives. The trees are farmed organically, without any chemicals. All the olives are hand-picked, which is super labor-intensive and very costly but makes for exceptional oil. They are then pressed within two hours at a local mill—the impressively short time between the tree and pressing is a significant contributor to keeping the oil’s quality so high. The flavor is fantastic. Big, bold, and peppery, but not overpowering. I’m impressed anew each time I eat it.
The oil is terrific on toast and great on salad greens. I used it the other evening to finish a dish of Mancini spaghetti, sautéed radish greens, and Fishwife anchovies. I added a bit of the IASA peperoncino as well! Great on sautéed fresh fish, potatoes, or pasta, or, for that matter, pretty much anything!
Available at the Deli and Mail Order.
15. 2024 Harvest Olive Oil from the Marqués de Valdueza
Amazing flavor from a 1000-year-old family business in western Spain
If you’re looking for a wonderful, world-class olive oil, you might well want to buy a bottle of the Marqués de Valdueza from the 2024 harvest. The family—formally known as the House of Álvarez de Toledo—has been a fixture in Spanish history for something like 10 centuries. The farmland on which the olives grow was first worked by the family in 1624. This makes the current oil we have on hand the 400th anniversary edition of what is made on the Marques de Valdueza lands. Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, who leads the family business today, is the 13th generation to formally carry on the family tradition.
Everything about this special oil speaks to its excellence. The olives are all carefully picked by hand. Harvesting is done quite early in the autumn, when yields are significantly lower, but the flavor of the oil is far more interesting. The trees are grown with much wider row spacing than most of the huge commercial farms that have been planted in the southern part of the country to allow the wind to pass freely through the trees, reducing pests, and encouraging the roots to spread naturally without being piled on top of the root system of the surrounding trees. Most importantly, in the moment, the flavor of the Valdueza oil is exceptional. It’s made from a unique blend of four different varietals that grow on the farm—Hojiblanca, Picual, Arbequina, and the rare and unique to the region, Morisca. It has a super fine, long finish with well-balanced complexity.
The Valdueza oil is wonderful, eaten simply, with Paesano or Rustic Italian bread from the Bakehouse. Oil of this quality is at its best when used to finish a dish—drizzle it over fresh fish straight from the broiler, just-sautéed local spinach, or a salad.
Available at the Deli and Mail Order.
16. Vintage Sardines from 2020–2023
Amazing and hard-to-find luxury for tinned fish lovers
Although most mid-century North Americans experienced sardines as low-end eating, they’ve actually occupied the other end of the culinary spectrum in Europe. According to John Thorne, writer of the simply wonderful, Simple Cooking, Oscar Wilde’s son, Vyvyan Holland, started London’s first sardine tasting club in 1935. Writing in the Spanish journal Gourmetour, Jose Carlos Capel said,
In the larders of some European gourmets, tins of sardines in olive oil occupy a place of honour alongside pots of foie gras with truffles or jars of caviar. A cult has built up around these canned fish, which, with its preaching of the special qualities of the best brands, the correct year and maturity period within the tin, constitute a kind of gastronomical religion.
The most sumptuous sardines are those that have been allowed to mature and mellow for years—if not decades—before they’re eaten. I like to eat the aged sardines in simple ways—next to a small green salad, or with some toast topped with a bit of butter or extra virgin olive oil. A sprinkling of sea salt seals the deal. In this Breton fleur de sel would be geographically correct, and its delicate texture would be a good complement for the sardines.
Available at the Deli and Mail Order.
17. M’Hamsa Couscous from the Mahjoub family in Tunisia
Hand-rolled and sun-dried by a fourth-generation family business
The couscous is comparably world-class! It altered my entire image of what couscous could be! I love it!
The couscous comes to us from the Mahjoub family’s farm, about an hour outside of Tunis, in the small town of Tebourba. They grow the wheat for the couscous on the farm, mill it, and then use the resulting semolina flour to make couscous. They roll each small round by hand and then dry it all slowly and naturally in the sun. M’hamsa actually means “by hand.” “Phenomenal” is, far and away, an understatement when it comes to this stuff. When you cook it, your whole kitchen will smell like wheat. It’s also incredibly easy to prepare, so easy that I was skeptical when we first started stocking it 15 years or so ago. But sure enough, all you do is use 1½ parts water for 1 part couscous. Salt the water lightly, bring it to a boil, then add the couscous. Stir, cover, turn off the heat altogether, and let the couscous steam in the pot for about 12 minutes. It should come out light and almost fluffy once you move it around a bit with a fork.
While the couscous is cooking, cut some fresh asparagus spears into 1-inch pieces. Sauté the pieces in hot olive oil. Sprinkle with a small bit of sea salt, stir, and cook til tender. When it’s done, remove them from the pan. Keep the oil hot, crack a couple of eggs per person, and cook lightly (or longer if you like them that way). I recommend the eggs over easy, so the yolk breaks nicely onto the dish. Additionally, coarsely chop some toasted almonds (or pine nuts, hazelnuts, or walnuts).
Available at the Deli and Mail Order.
18. 2025 Holiday Blend Coffee
An annual tradition from the Coffee Company
Every year, the Coffee Company crew convenes to come up with a way to take some of the year’s best single-origin coffees and bring them together in the form of an exceptional blend. I look at it as something akin to a rock supergroup, where each member has made great music on their own, but gets together with a handful of other great players for fun to produce music they couldn’t create on their own. The coming together isn’t permanent—it’s a special short-term collaboration that creates some really cool outcomes!
This year’s Holiday Blend is a duo—beans from our long-time friends at Daterra in Brazil and also from Hacienda Miramonte in Costa Rica. The crew at the Coffee Company offers,
Their flavors are playing especially nicely together this year, leaving us with an unmistakable richness and smooth finish. Think toasted nuts, caramels, and a silky smooth texture. Comfort and joy in a cup!
The Holiday Blend is designed to appeal to both serious coffee aficionados and those who are new arrivals to the specialty coffee scene. A bag makes a great gift—it’s wonderful way to send a taste of Zingerman’s to a coffee-loving loved one or colleague, and a beautiful addition to gift baskets! Enjoy it now while it lasts!
19. Il Molino Organic Apricot Preserves at the Deli
Lovely artisan jam handmade from Lazio in Central Italy
I just tasted some of this jam again the other day when I was walking through the Deli, and it was out for sampling. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised, but it’s pretty darned amazing stuff. The team at the Il Molino estate (a restored 17th-century farmhouse) in Central Italy does a marvelous job of making exceptional jam out of the wonderfully flavorful organic apricots that they harvest on their lands every June.
My friend Lex Alexander in North Carolina, who’s studied the subject of artisan jam making for many decades, always tells me that apricot is the hardest fruit to successfully put up in preserves. With Lex’s wise words in mind, I am extra appreciative of the work of the team Il Molino—they’re a great way to put an inspirational bit of apricot into your daily dining, and a wonderful way to appreciate the beauty of the apricot at its absolute best.
20. Brand New Vegan Chocolate Cake from the Bakehouse
Tasty and terrific with vanilla oat milk ermine frosting
Can you really make a super delicious vegan chocolate cake? No eggs? No butter? No honey? Yes, you can! This is evidence thereof from the Bakehouse team! That’s right—lots of flavor and verifiably vegan!
The Ermine frosting that covers the cake may be new to most 21st-century Americans, but its origins go back to the 1880s, when it was also known variously as “milk frosting” or “boiled milk frosting.” It’s made by starting with a flour-based roux—for this vegan cake, we’re using oat milk. The chocolatiness comes from cocoa powder crafted by the Dutch firm of Bensdorp, one of the first in the world to make cocoa powder. The vanilla is the real deal—from the island of Madagascar.
The results are terrific! Great anyway you like to eat your cake—alongside an AeroPress-brewed cup of the 2025 Holiday Blend at the Coffee Company, the marvelous Mexican Chiapas. Be sure to serve your cake at room temperature to get the full flavor!
