Top 5 Halloween Pantry Products

It's almost time to get spooky & scary! 👻 Booo~

Get out the jack-o-lanterns, because it's Halloween in a week. What's the key to a good Halloween? Good treats, of course! Treat yourself to amazing gourmet food products this Halloween.

Wildly Delicious Petite Maison Tapenade (Kalamata Olive & Fig). Made with Greek Kalamata olives and figs, this Mediterranean-style tapenade is a zesty take on the harvest season, and of course, Halloween. Party idea: serve with Halloween-themed crackers or plain, crunchy breads cut into shapes: ghosts, bats, pumpkins or cats!

Lotus Foods Forbidden Rice Ramen with Miso Soup Mix. Despite its rather unforgiving and decidedly Halloween-esque name, this delicious rice ramen is made with jasmine black rice, an East and Southeast Asian specialty. Black rice contains plenty of antioxidants, so it's way better than plain old white rice. When cooked, its colour changes to a rich, deep purple... quite mesmerizing indeed! Perfect for a Halloween-themed bento. 🍱

Wildly Delicious Maple Pumpkin Butter. This delicious butter is a product we always find ourselves coming back to. It combines our favourites: autumn-appropriate maple with Halloween-friendly pumpkin! Add it to toasts and other baked goods for a tasty start to your day. Halloween party? Butter your pumpkin tarts with maple pumpkin butter for added flavour.

Rième Blood Orange Limonade. A beverage with an ominous name, but a wonderful taste. No worries, there's no blood in this, just oranges! Rième is a popular French artisan beverage brand from France, and we're pleased to make their products available here in Oakville, Ontario. Serve at Halloween parties or enjoy together with forbidden rice ramen! All Rième products are organic, GMO-free, kosher, and have natural sugars. No preservatives!

Classic Biscuit & Wafer Assortment. Tired of Halloween-themed foods? Serve these classy, classic German biscuits at your Halloween party and charm your guests. These pretty little biscuits and wafers come in different shapes, sizes, and flavours. If the little witches and wizards in your life want to hold a Halloween tea party, these biscuits are perfect. 

Trick-or-treat! Let French Lunch treat you this Halloween. Grab your favourite gourmet condiments in-store, 15% off before October 31, 2017. 🎃 

Top 5 Sweet Condiments

Got a sweet tooth? So do we. Join us as we explore our favourite sweet condiments — AKA the stuff we like to drizzle & dress our crêpes, pancakes, waffles, granola, breads, and sometimes, even our entrées with!

Hope we were able to provide you with a few examples of what types of foods go best with jams, honeys, and syrups! Breakfast and brunch are ideal for sweet condiments, but honey can be used to glaze meats and some vegetables for extra taste. Mmmm... 🤤

Onto the list!

1. Martelli White Truffle Honey. The humble white truffle is the rarest truffle (our favourite fungi!) of all. So why not add it to honey? This Italian white truffle honey will have you singing praises to both truffles and honey. Combining sweetness with earthiness for an all-natural taste, this is certainly one combination mother nature can't help but approve of. It's extra healthy honey! Here are some ideas: truffle honey French toast, truffle honey in your coffee or tea, or brie with truffle honey for when you want to feel swanky.

2. Nude Bee Honey Co. Wildflower Honey. Nude bee honey bares all. It's Canadian, it's completely natural, and best of all, it's raw, meaning that this honey isn't processed in any way. It's collected from Ontario bee farms and sold in a small container. Raw honey has immense benefits as an anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant & anti-viral food. It's also great for people struggling with seasonal pollen allergies. Support Ontario bees. Buy Nude! Drizzle pancakes with raw honey, or use it to glaze vegetables and meats, like carrots, chicken and pork.

3. Bonne Maman Quince Jelly. Bonne Maman is a French preserves company famous for its jams and jellies. This jelly uses the quince, a fruit similar to the pear, which is grown throughout Europe. Quince is a great source of vitamin C, iron, and copper, all needed moderate amounts to maintain the body's functions.

4. Wildly Delicious Maple Pumpkin Butter. Combining our favourites — maple syurp, pumpkin, and butter — into the perfect sweet condiment, it's maple butter! This is an excellent back-to-school breakfast butter for kids (or adults) that love pumpkin spice. Love your pumpkin spice lattes? Why not spice up muffins, toast, tarts, and other warm, bread-based foods with maple butter? Experimenting is worth it.

5. Wildly Delicious Brandied Cherry Butter. Cherries are combined with brandy, apples, red wine vinegar, and spices for a premium taste. This is an adult's gourmet condiment. Add to toast, eat with aged cheeses and eat with plain biscuits or small breads like prosciutto. Cherry butter deserves a place on your cheese board.

What's your favourite? Although we only covered five sweet condiments, rest assured, we have many others in stock, too. Visit our Jam, Honey & Syrup page for more information.

Remember, everything on this list is 15% off in-store, so visit us soon! 187 Cross Avenue. Be there. We'll be waiting!

We look forward to feeding you,

French Lunch

Top 8 Gourmet Oils, Vinegars & Mustards

From premium black truffle & organic olive oil to stout beer mustard, there are just so many Oils, Vinegars & Mustards in our pantry to enjoy and experiment with. In this article, we present our recommendations to gourmet newbies and veterans alike. All condiments come with a 15% discount if you buy them in-store. Offer ends August 31, 2017. Don't miss out!

 Oils

Black Truffle Olive Oil & White Truffle Olive Oil. Anyone desiring gourmet fare will want truffle oil in their pantry. Truffles have an earthy and uniquely pungent flavour. Dress salads, fried foods like fries and poutine, steaks, and more with truffle oil. P.S. white truffles are rarer than black truffles — surprise a gourmet lover in your life with Mussini white truffle oil!

Organic Olive Oil. This organic extra virgin olive oil from Córdoban Finca Duernas is made with hand-picked Spanish green olives. With hints of almond mixed in, it's full of antioxidants, and has a refreshingly fruity taste. A perfect fit for health-conscious individuals!

Herbs de Provence Oil. This lovely herb oil from French artisan oil company La Tourangelle is GMO-free, healthy and aromatic. Here, rosemary and thyme are infused with highly oleic sunflower oil. If you don't have fresh herbs on hand, this amazing Provencal oil will get the job done!

Vinegar

Páez Morilla Pedro Ximénez Sherry Vinegar. This is a nutty and aromatic vinegar has hints of aged oak in it, since sherry is fermented in oak caskets. Sherry vinegar is a gourmet staple, like truffle oil. It's also surprisingly hard to find! This variant is made with Spanish Pedro Ximénez grapes. Just one drop is enough for chicken and meat dishes, salmon, and salads.

Maple Balsamic Vinegar. If you're into gourmet, then you'll know about the latest foodie trend: balsamic reduction. This maple balsamic vinegar from Wildly Delicious is ideal for deglazing, reductions, marinades, dressings, and grilled meats. Dress BBQ kebabs and skewers with this hearty vinegar and enjoy!

Mustard

Stout Beer Mustard. Wildly Delicious is back at it again with this unique beer-flavoured mustard. Mmmm. Goes amazingly well with sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, fries... insert your favourite savoury junk food here. As an aside: If you love beer you need to try our Cheddar Beer Soup!

Lemon & Chives Mustard. This mustard is tangy and lip-smackingly good. This is truly a blend made in heaven: zesty lemons meet oniony chives. You'll want to lick this off a spoon before spreading it on sandwiches! 

Triple Crunch Mustard. Kozlik's has truly outdone themselves with this harmonious mix of mustard seeds, Canadian whiskey, and honey. Not to mention, garlic and spices! Use on dinner dishes like pork roasts, duck, and seafood.

Pick up these ingredients in-store and we'll knock 15% off the original price. Which one's your favourite? Visit 187 Cross Avenue more affordable gourmet and frozen fresh gourmet meals!

Canada Day 150: BBQ Party Ideas!

Sooo. The long awaited holiday is nearly here! The 150^th birthday we’ve all (well, us Canadians) been waiting for is this Saturday! How will you celebrate our country this year? Perhaps with a backyard BBQ party at a friend or family member’s house, or with your neighbours at an upcoming block party. Maybe the gathering will be more intimate, and take place indoors until nighttime, when the fun starts with a fun fireworks display at the local park!

Impress your gathering with amazing & affordable gourmet condiments from French Lunch. All of these products are easy to pack away for picnics, get-togethers and big trips across Ontario. No refrigeration necessary!

If you have a portable freezer, then grab some of our freshly-made Mediterranean meals to complement these condiments. Everything under $20! We recommend savoury pies like Tartiflette or breaded foods like Cordon Bleu. Salmon works well too! Let’s begin.

White Truffle Oil. This $10 bottle of truffle oil makes for a flavourful and versatile seasoning for all types of foods — French fries, pizza, pasta, grilled veggies & meats, fillet, poutine, burgers, and more. When in doubt, bring out the truffle oil! Impress your friends with your gourmet knowledge. One part white truffles, one part extra virgin olive oil. Product of Italy.

White Truffle Mustard. This Canadian mustard will make you drool in hunger! Combining truffles with white vinegar, wine, brown sugar, sea salt, spice and of course, mustard, your Canada Day hot dogs won’t be complete without it. But it’s not just for hot dogs. Add a dollop of the stuff to finger foods, burgers and even marinade your meats in it for that premium truffle and wine taste!

Quebec Maple Mustard. Another Canadian product (duh!), this simple maple syrup-infused mustard tastes best with meats, of course. Specifically beef, pork, and fish (like Canadian salmon). Spread it on sandwiches for that unique & natural Canadian maple sugar taste!

Maple Balsamic Vinegar. Following our maple train of thought with another Canadian product, this vinegar is balsamic, meaning that it’s a dark-coloured and sweet Italian vinegar that gets its taste from being kept in wooden containers. How’s that for authenticity? Balsamic vinegar is a great BBQ sauce you can add to grilled foods. A very gourmet technique is balsamic reduction, which involves boiling the vinegar and reducing it until it turns into a syrup. This syrup can be used as a tasty dressing for virtually any food! Put this vinegar maple syrup on your pancakes for Canada Day!

Provençal Green Olive Tapenade. This is a French sauce that brings capers, green French olives, anchovies, spices, and olive oil into an aromatic & tasteful blend to act as a spread for finger foods and snacks like sweet potato chips, plain crackers, Mediterranean breads & others. What can you come up with?

Fig, Brandy and Vanilla Compote. Make your guests exclaim in amazement with this sweet Canadian compote. Compote is a dessert similar to jam. To make compote, fruits are cooked in sugars, spices and water and seasoned with herbs. So you get a bunch of different flavours with each bite! Compote tastes great cold or hot, so preparation isn’t an issue. Serve on crackers with a slice of brie cheese and a bit of whipped cream to end your feast. You’ll be remembered fondly!

We’ve chosen six condiments that we sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this Canada Day. If you’re unsure about any of these products, feel free to give us a call or drop by French Lunch to chat with us. We’re open Monday to Thursday from 10 AM to 8 PM, and until 5 PM on Friday. We’re closed for Canada Day this Saturday, as we’ll be in Bronte for Oakville’s Canada Day 150 Celebration.

We look forward to helping you craft a wonderful culinary experience for yourself and loved ones this Canada Day,

French Lunch