'Irish' nostalgic products for a food hamper

yellow hen

Hope this is the right forum. I want to send over some food products to family in the US next week. They can buy some things there like kerrygold and brennans bread but what things are quintessentially irish and you would love to see if you loved abroad? (it will be carried in a backpack so can't be too fragile). So far I have:
-a whole cartload of cadburys products
-Tayto cheese and onion (need to figure out how to not get these mashed)
-Barrys tea

Help me with the rest please!!!

NasserShammaz

Macaroon bars ( Original ones) crunchies, carabaldi buscuits,

Dial Hard

NasserShammaz wrote:

carabaldi buscuits,

Really??? I literally don't know a single person who eats Garibaldi biscuits.

Mine would be:

Lyon's (sorry!) teabags.
Brown bread (or the dry ingredients to make it).
Good marmalade.

yellow hen

NasserShammaz wrote: »

Macaroon bars ( Original ones) crunchies, carabaldi buscuits,

What biscuits????:o:o

Only

Maybe not nostalgic but McDonnells Curry Sauce. Bisto. Rashers and pudding.

Doctors room ghost

Fig rolls and some kimberly micados and digestives

NasserShammaz

Cola bottles

NasserShammaz

A kilo of pinks ,A kilo of records and a 4 stone bag of coal

yellow hen

Oh god these are brilliant suggestions especially mcdonnells curry and bisto! Thanks. Keep the ideas coming

NasserShammaz

Don't forget the Garibaldi's

Jimbob1977

Flogs (those marshmallow things)

Red lemonade, possibly Taylor Keith.

Tayto (the country name for any crisp)

Gateaux Swiss Roll

Barn back

Rashers

Black and white pudding

McCambridge brown soda bread

NasserShammaz

Proper mustard ( Colemans English Mustard) to remind them of Ireland......?

Mam of 4

Can you actually send perishable food items , such as bread , rashers etc ?

Only asking as I send a family member in Canada a care package every few months , usually contains ;
Giant box of Lyons tea bags ,
Tayto crisps ,lots of them!
Silvermints,
Frys chocolate,
Dairymilk,
And any other random goodies I think they might like

Electric Sheep

Barry's tea, Coleman's mustard, Kerrygold butter and cheese are available in mainstream supermarkets where I live (Boston). Cadbury's quality has deteriorated to the point that it would only disappoint. You can get much better crisps in the US than Tayto. I suppose it depends on the age of the recipient and how long they've lived abroad. Most people grow out of the tayto/cadburys/mikado/general junk food thing after a few years.

I would love: Ballymaloe Relish, good Ploughman's Pickle, artisan Jam or marmalade, a whole or half wheel of Cashel Blue*, smoked salmon, pickled onions. I make my own brown bread, but you could add a brown bread mix. This would be the makings of a very nice brunch.

*Leave the Cashel Blue wrapped and uneaten until well past it's sell by date. It becomes wonderfully soft and creamy instead of crumbly, and it really is the food of the gods.

coylemj

NasserShammaz wrote: »

A kilo of pinks ,A kilo of records and a 4 stone bag of coal

+1 a bale of briquettes and a cylinder of Calor gas.

Dizzyblonde

Our family members in the US love packets of Knorr bread sauce mix, especially at this time of year for Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys.

rubadub

walshes spiceburgers

Doctors room ghost

NasserShammaz wrote: »

Don't forget the Garibaldi's

Them are pure sh1te.theyre like something you’d be given in greece with the tea

the beer revolu

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Them are pure sh1te.theyre like something you’d be given in greece with the tea

I love Garabaldi. Not too sweet.
Hard enough to find, though, and I never really considered them as quintessentially Irish.

yellow hen

yellow hen wrote: »

Hope this is the right forum. I want to send over some food products to family in the US next week. They can buy some things there like kerrygold and brennans bread but what things are quintessentially irish and you would love to see if you loved abroad? (it will be carried in a backpack so can't be too fragile). So far I have:
-a whole cartload of cadburys products
-Tayto cheese and onion (need to figure out how to not get these mashed)
-Barrys tea

Help me with the rest please!!!

I’d forget the Cadbury’s products. They’re not what they used be!

Taytos, rashers, sausages, puddings, brown bread mix, Lyons tea, plum pudding, (not chain store ones) marrowfat peas, fig rolls, mikados,

Doctors room ghost

the beer revolu wrote: »

I love Garabaldi. Not too sweet.
Hard enough to find, though, and I never really considered them as quintessentially Irish.

I hate them.i love rich tea covered in butter

yogi37

Chicken Fillet Rolls

yogi37

Electric Sheep wrote: »

Cadbury's quality has deteriorated to the point that it would only disappoint.

I suspect that Cadbury's they sell is not sourced from Ireland. Cadbury's chocolate is sold everywhere but is never as good as the stuff bought in Ireland.

John_Rambo

A tiny bit of turf, a rolled up bit of the Westmeath Indo (or other local newspaper) and a box of Cara safety matches.



Smells are best for immigrant nostalgia.

Doctors room ghost

John_Rambo wrote: »

A tiny bit of turf, a rolled up bit of the Westmeath Indo (or other local newspaper) and a box of Cara safety matches.



Smells are best for immigrant nostalgia.

They’ll think it’s drugs in customs.you can’t send turf either I think due to quarantine.

TheBoyConor

Garibaldis are prod English biscuits. No way Jose.

Day Lewin

"Old Time Irish" marmalade with the picture on the front of an old fashioned kitchen with a cat.
Tanora, or any kind of "red lemonade"
Lemons Pure Sweets
Bullseyes and Chocolate Satines: fizz-bags.
Paxo stuffing.
Odlums Triumph Oatmeal, with the owl logo. Too big for a hamper, though - but they may have gift items with the iconic logo
Jacob's Cream Crackers.
Hadji Bey's Turkish Delight

Barnbrac with ring? Any hard biscuits? All the different types of digestives.

If they're into baking, things that I'd guess might be hard to get like golden syrup, black treacle, etc.

Zaph

If you're planning on bringing the foods on in your carry-on luggage remember that stuff like jam, marmalade, relish, soft cheese, etc. can be considered liquids or pastes and you could be prevented from bringing them on the plane. Happened a woman at Dublin Airport with a tub of butter earlier this year.

TheBoyConor

Freeze them. Hey presto -they are a solid. Cooler bag fire your carry on luggage.
System fooled.

TheBeach

There is a cadburys vintage selection box of chocolate bars. It looks great. I saw it in debenhams recently.

runawaybishop

Chef brown sauce. Aromat.

Roadtoad

Next week's Lidl specials flyer.
A properly printed photo or two. Of the dog.

tickingclock

TK red lemonade

The Hill Billy

Dial Hard wrote: »

Really??? I literally don't know a single person who eats Garibaldi biscuits.

I try to get some at this time of the year. I give them out to any kids that call on Hallowe'en & tell them that the raisins are actually dead flies.

The Hill Billy

A pack of Calvita cheese triangles, a bag of Emerald sweets, & purple, pink & yellow Snack bars.

honeybear

Definitely marmalade

BailMeOut

YR Sauce.

(most people assume its English but its very Irish)

the beer revolu

BailMeOut wrote: »

YR Sauce.

(most people assume its English but its very Irish)

I assume you are taking the proverbial, here?

BailMeOut

the beer revolu wrote: »

I assume you are taking the proverbial, here?

Nope. YR is a very Irish product and good luck finding it is Yorkshire!

the beer revolu

BailMeOut wrote: »

Nope. YR is a very Irish product and good luck finding it is Yorkshire!

You could have gotten money off me on a bet about this. Who would have thought that it's made in Donegal?

Teyla Emmagan

Dizzyblonde wrote:

Our family members in the US love packets of Knorr bread sauce mix, especially at this time of year for Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys.

Gak.

It's a pity you couldn't put lamb in it. There is nothing in the world like Irish lamb.

Dizzyblonde

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Gak.

It's a pity you couldn't put lamb in it. There is nothing in the world like Irish lamb.

Each to their own - and for some Irish people abroad turkey just isn't the same without Knorr bread sauce

L1011

yogi37 wrote: »

I suspect that Cadbury's they sell is not sourced from Ireland. Cadbury's chocolate is sold everywhere but is never as good as the stuff bought in Ireland.

Only the 8 square bars and anything containing a spun centre (Twirl, Flake, some other bars) are made in Ireland these days as far as I know. And all their products are filled with soya to reduce costs and hence clearly are not the product they used to be.

However - they're going to be a lot better than the crud they sell as chocolate in the US.

What I used to miss when in the UK was Club Orange (which I never drink in Ireland!) and proper salt and vinegar crisps (the English ones are mostly salt)

John_Rambo

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

They’ll think it’s drugs in customs.you can’t send turf either I think due to quarantine.

I never thought of that. Fair play. OP, take note!!!

coylemj

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

They’ll think it’s drugs in customs.you can’t send turf either I think due to quarantine.

+1 US Dept of Agriculture regulations. No clay, earth, peat or anything that could harbour pests. The same reason why you can't bring fruit past pre-clearance in Dublin or Shannon.

I remember boxes of shamrock for sale in shops around Paddy's Day when I was a kid and they were clearly marked as having had all the soil washed off so that they could be posted to the US.

NasserShammaz

Custard powder

ellejay

Hob nobs to dunk in the (barry's) tea!
Although they're probly used to watery tea now so you could bring the Lyons.

It's hard to get good dairy cream over there, if you're checking in a bag, maybe you could pack some.

mistersifter

KING crisps

Chocolate kimberley.

Butlers chocolates (dont be sending any Lemons sweets either. Terrible yolks they are. Anyone brings them to my house at Christmas is stopped at the door and sent on their merry way! ).

Chef sauce.

I could never get proper malt vinegar for chips when I was abroad and would've appreciated it. I'd friends too who were begging me to bring them bacherlors beans.

ellejay

ellejay wrote: »

Hob nobs to dunk in the (barry's) tea!
Although they're probly used to watery tea now so you could bring the Lyons.

It's hard to get good dairy cream over there, if you're checking in a bag, maybe you could pack some.

Chocolate Goldgrain dunked in Lyons tea.

yellow hen

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. Some were excellent; some I took less seriously

I now have a fairly respectable good supply going over. Also added in some good honey. Bag will be checked in so I'm ok for liquids.
Thanks again.