Best Savory Food Gifts for Moms Who Hate Sweets

Where to buy: Amazon, Truff
Price paid: $59.99
Verdict: Gift it!

Truff’s starter pack comes in a lovely black gift box that screams class. Nestled inside are bottles of black truffle oil, black truffle salt, and truffle hot sauce. 

We’ve had better truffle oil and truffle salt, but we still consider Truff’s versions of these products decent. The true star of this gift set is the truffle hot sauce, a product we definitely don’t see every day. It smells and tastes like a red bell pepper with ample acidity, medium heat, and slight sweetness. The truffle is subtle, making this hot sauce a great all-purpose condiment. “But I can eat it by itself,” says Theresa Panetta, a senior video producer. “It’s got all the things you want.”

Where to buy: myPanier, Cuisinery Food Market
Price paid: $34.90
Verdict: Gift it!

La Conviette sells 40 of these individually foil-wrapped butters in plastic zipper bags, which don’t look gift-worthy, but butter doesn’t get any more special than this, and it’s worth finding your own gift box. 

Each bonbon contains one tablespoon of fresh, flavorful AOP Charentes-Poitou butter, which is exclusively produced with dairy cream from these regions in France. The butter is creamy, nutty, and fragrant. “It smells like buttermilk and has a clean finish,” says Ginger Cowles, managing editor. “This feels so high quality and like I’m at a fancy B&B,” says Sara Morrow-Harcourt, who leads CR’s home content. “I would slather, and I mean SLATHER, it on bread.”

Where to buy: Roe Caviar
Price paid: $160
Verdict: Gift it!

Make sure mom is into caviar before shelling out for this, but this gift set is a home run if she is. It comes with 30 grams (that’s just over 1 oz.; there is also a 50-gram option) of sustainably farmed white sturgeon caviar from California, a mother-of-pearl caviar spoon, and a metal key for popping open the tin. You can get the box engraved, and there are also options to include potato chips and crème fraîche in the set. The caviar has a delicate earthy brine that’s not too salty, and the roe melts in your mouth.

Where to buy: Despaña
Price paid: $45
Verdict: Gift it!

Not all moms will be excited about this one, so know your audience. “If my kids gave me a paint can of potato chips as a gift, what kind of messaging am I supposed to take from that?” says Jen Shecter, head of content. Theresa was also not wowed: “Needs more salt.” But both Jen and Theresa admit they are not potato chip people. The tasters who were ‘tato chip people were absolute stans for the can. 

“Talk about first impressions,” says Ginger. “If you’re gonna give potato chips as a gift, these are the ones to give. I want to eat them one at a time because they’re so special.” The Spanish chips are crisp, light, and airy, not greasy or excessively salty. They actually taste like potatoes and would be heavenly paired with something salty, like the caviar above. “The packaging is just delightful,” says Sara. “And smart! I don’t see any crushed chips in there.”

Where to buy: Fishwife
Price paid: $33
Verdict: Gift it!

Fishwife’s smoky set includes one tin each of smoked rainbow trout from Idaho, smoked albacore tuna from the Pacific coast, and smoked Atlantic salmon from Norway. Each type is brined in its own mix of sugar (even the savory stuff has it) and spices. The packaging is bright, colorful, and well executed.

“This smoked fish set is an elevated version of a tinned seafood mom might already eat regularly but wouldn’t get themselves,” says Sara. “I also love that the fish is responsibly caught because those details are nice to see in a gift.”

“They’re all delicious and rich tasting,” says Jen. “It feels like gourmet fish, not a regular fish from a can. There’s enough flavor that I wouldn’t mix them with anything.”

Where to buy: Mercado Famous
Price paid: $78.10
Verdict: Gift it!

High-quality charcuterie should taste like good pork, not like meh pork hiding behind tons of salt. These pretty envelopes of Spanish meats are filled with the good stuff and include a variety of hams, sausages, and a pork loin. They’re all luxuriously flavorful with a melt-in-the-mouth quality. Gift the set with a freshly baked baguette.

Where to buy: Amazon, Heatonist
Price paid: $120
Verdict: Skip it!

I realize hot sauce as a competitive sport is really more a bro thing, but I was hopeful there would be legitimately good hot sauces in the Hot Ones Season 20: 10 pack. Most people I know who love hot sauce enough to carry around a bottle with them are women, after all. Alas, few of these actually had good flavor. Our tasters would reach for three of the 10 bottles again: Donis’ Cadejo, Brooklyn Delhi’s Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce, and Angry Goat Pepper Company’s Dreams of Calypso. But $120 is a lot to pay for a set that is mostly spicy for spicy’s sake.

Where to buy: Lakrids by Bülow
Price paid: $11
Verdict: Skip it!

We know licorice isn’t typically savory, but this one is one exception, with the addition of salt. However, even the licorice lovers in our group couldn’t get on board with this potent salt-laced Nordic licorice. “They went overboard on the salt,” says Theresa. “It’s almost hiding the licorice flavor. I also want some texture; it’s too smooth, and I like to chew my licorice.”

Where to buy: Man Crates
Price paid: $49.99
Verdict: Skip it!

The company is called Man Crates, but the heart-shaped jerky box was enough to entice me to try it. I hoped the branding wouldn’t be inside the box, but it is. Still, maybe it’d be right for Mr. Mom? The assortment of flavors, including sesame ginger, habanero, garlic, and honey bourbon, sounds yummy enough.

After sampling the individually wrapped jerkies, we decided the product wasn’t enough for us to get over the gendered branding. The vacuum-wrapped pieces are difficult to open, even with scissors, and the jerky is wet, making them a bit messy to eat. The jerky is tender, soft, and smoky, but all the flavors lean heavily toward sweet.

Where to buy: Nuts.com
Price paid: $58.91
Verdict: Skip it!

The custom tray is a basket that comes vacuum sealed, but you can’t re-seal it. It’s an inconvenience we might be willing to overlook if the nuts blew us away, but only a couple had us returning for more. To be fair, we only tasted the macadamias, red pistachios, wasabi peanuts, and cajun peanuts. Nuts.com offers more than 150 options of nuts, dried fruit, chocolates, and other snacks to fill your tray with.

Our favorite nut was the red pistachio, which is crisp, fresh, naturally sweet, and meaty. “It’s not something I would see in the nut aisle at Trader Joe’s,” says Sara. “And the pistachios are particularly luxurious because there aren’t any teaser pieces too tight to crack open.” A bag of these would be a fine gift, but we’d skip the tray.

Where to buy: Mouth
Price paid: $75
Verdict: Skip it!

Most of this selection was either too sweet or too soggy for us. “When I set my mouth for a pickle, I’m craving that dill flavor, which these didn’t have,” says Ginger. “There’s no satisfying pucker either.” The best jar of the bunch is Hail Mary Spicy Veggies, which are spicy and snappy with a good brine and fun mix of vegetables, including carrots, asparagus, green beans, and okra. 

Where to buy: Bergdorf Goodman
Price paid: $15
Verdict: Skip it!

Looks and smells like dog biscuits; tastes like cheap Parmesan. “No, no, no, no, no,” says Jen. That’s all. “These cookies lack everything you want in a cookie, like butter,” says Theresa. “I guess this is supposed to have truffle in here, but I can’t detect it.”