A Fresh Garden Party

Here at Hickory Farms, we’re quite fond of traditions that involve delicious food spreads. And since garden parties are a delightful tradition that also comes with a unique history, we’ve decided to stop and smell the roses!

Queen Victoria hosted the first royal garden party at Buckingham Palace in the 1860s, calling these afternoon meals “breakfasts.” Today, Queen Elizabeth hosts at least three garden parties each summer at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

Originally instituted to present debutantes, these garden parties have evolved into events for recognizing and rewarding public service. And while they may be one of the most relaxed royal events, these garden parties usually come with a guest list of a whopping 30,000 attendees! Be glad you’re not in charge of the food for these garden parties!

With colors and textures inspired by summer, a garden party could be a wonderful way to dress up a gathering, be it a birthday celebration, a wedding reception, or some other special occasion. Here are some of our favorite ideas for a flowery-fresh garden party.

With decorative fans, flower pots, mason jars, and chalkboard signs, this colorful hutch offers some great ideas for serving food in a fun, casual way at a garden party.

Photo via Catch My Party

We like the idea of finding unexpected ways to display flowers at a garden party. Try to repurpose items – like soup cans – and turn them into flower vases, or try to find a unique way to hang your flowers like in this rustic-chic garden scene.

Photo via Apartment Therapy

In addition to flower pots and watering cans, bird cages also make for wonderful décor to add a charming touch to garden parties. Use them as a centerpiece or try hanging them from nearby tree limbs.

Photo via The Little Corner

Although the sunshine is a gardener’s best friend, you can also throw a gorgeous garden party at night. And to add extra ambiance to your garden soiree, make sure to hang some decorative string lights or lanterns.

Photo via Zsa Zsa Bellagio

Have you thrown a garden party before? What décor did you use and what kinds of food did you serve? Hickory Farms has new spring gifts that are great for garden party spreads or as thank you gifts for hosts. Visit our online shop to see these and more gourmet food baskets and gifts.

And for more inspiring warm-weather entertaining ideas, visit our “Set the Table for Spring” Pinterest board.

Wine & Cheese Pairing for Intermediates

Last month, we touched on the subtle art of wine and cheese pairing. Today, we’re going to move past the 101 basics to delve a little deeper into this fine food art, thanks to a request from one of our Twitter followers.

As Wine Enthusiast magazine explains, wine and food pairings are all about acidity, texture, fat and tannin. Found in bark, plants, seeds and fruit skins, tannin is a naturally-occurring polyphenol that gives wine its dryness.

Photo via Wine Folly

One simple yet effective strategy is to divide cheeses into four main groups. Each group can then be paired with particular wines to achieve a complementary or contrasting flavor.

The 4 Cheese Groups

Bloomy: These are your creamy cheeses with soft rinds. Pair them with chardonnay, pinot blanc, sparkling wine, or champagne.
Hard: These firm cheeses (which can be aged) usually come with a salty and/or sharp taste. Pair them with merlot, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, zinfandel, bardolino, or chianti.
Blue: These types of cheeses, as the name implies, have a blue tinge and pungent flavor. Pair them with Riesling, port, sauternes, or eiswein.
Fresh: Tangy and mild, these cheeses are soft and spreadable. Pair with pinot grigio, cauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, tocai friulano, or Beaujolais.

The next step in learning how to pair wine and cheese is to become more acquainted with your wine tasting palette so that you can begin to refine your flavor detection abilities. This map of the tongue from Musings on the Vine can help!

Photo via Musings of the Vine

Another strategy is to stick to the classics. A couple of the most common wine and cheese pairings are mild cheddar with chardonnay or parmesan with a cabernet sauvignon. The Wine Vibe, a wine review and wine education blog by industry professionals, has an additional list of classic pairings.

What are some of the wine and cheese pairings you know and love? Or, what strategies do you use to find new and delicious wine and cheese pairings? Share your thoughts or experiences in a comment below or on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen

At Hickory Farms, we know that you spend lot of your life in the kitchen. From cooking and dining to entertaining and (sometimes) enjoying that elusive cup of tea, a majority of the day is spent here. If you’re going to spend so much time in a single space, it should be one that works for you not against you.

Every kitchen has at least one space dedicated to “junk.” If you’re particularly organized, maybe you’ve managed to limit it to just a single drawer. For most of us, though, it starts out small and slowly begins to take over. No matter how hard you try to ignore it, hide it, or push it from your thoughts, it’s impossible to avoid forever. But there’s no need to stress. Achieving an organized kitchen is easier than you might think.

First, assess your situation. Everyone uses their kitchen differently. If you’re a master chef then you likely have multiple gadgets and gizmos most of us have never even heard of. You’re storage needs will be much different from the person who cooks occasionally and relies on leftovers for most of their meals.

For those that cook frequently, the key to organization will be accessibility. Again, the specifics will vary depending on what you like to cook. If you love experimenting with different spices and flavors, try something like this island shelf to keep your spices within arm’s reach.

Photo via BHG

You can always use Better Homes & Gardens’ tip and keep ingredients in pre-organized boxes within your pantry. This way you can keep all of the ingredients for your favorite recipes in one place. Next time you want to make a “Yummy Creation” with Hickory Farms gourmet ingredients, you can grab everything you need in one swoop.

Photo via BHG

For the leftover kings and queens, you need organized Tupperware. Some say an organized Tupperware cabinet is a myth, but we assure you, it can be achieved. The trick is having the right tools. Baskets keep everything contained and also let you easily find and return containers to their shelves. Reuse your Hickory Farms gift baskets!

Photo via Raquel English

The pantry is not the only place that needs to stay organized in order to make the most of your kitchen space. Refrigerator space is also important! Use a lazy susan to keep all of your smaller packaged items easily accessible.

Photo via TheKitchn

Which tips did we miss? Share your kitchen organization tricks on our Facebook page.