To think that, unless you know the kitchen they were made in is very clean, homemade edible gifts go straight in the bin

[Bearbehind]

Especially this year

Given we’re sanitising things we touch and are ultra conscious about the spread of germs etc - AIBU to think that if you get edible gifts from someone’s who’s kitchen you either don’t know or don’t think is very clean - you’d just bin it?

I’m not saying you can catch Covid from the food but it’s the principle of not knowing how hygenic stuff is

I’m not a fan of homemade gifts at the best of times - I think a sort of rule should be that unless your homemade items are good enough to sell for actual money, then please don’t do it

No one is going to admit they binned it but I do hope those who would make homemade edible gifts, especially for teachers, this year think twice

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Making truffles is definitely, in my view, better than buying some. From an environmental point of view. And financially for me

I disagree, I’d prefer shop bought as can see the ingredients, know they have been made in a factory and I can see the expiry date. I wouldn’t eat home made ones so definitely not environmentally friendly as they would go to waste.

Financially it suits you but that doesn’t mean the gift is given with the recipient in mind given it’s done in bulk for cost reasons.

Can you explain this, @IceCreamAndCandyfloss? I don't understand it.

First hit for chocolate truffles recipe on Google: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-chocolate-truffles Ingredients: 300g good-quality dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids; 300ml double cream; 50g unsalted butter. (That's the starting point - they suggest various other flavourings and coatings.) Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for three days, or frozen for up to a month.

Lindor dark chocolate truffles ingredients:
Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, vegetable fat (coconut, palm kernel), cocoa butter, anhydrous MILK fat, whole MILK powder, emulsifier (SOYA lecithin), skimmed MILK powder, LACTOSE, vanilla beans, flavourings, BARLEY malt extract. Allergens: May contain HAZELNUTS and other NUTS

www.lindt.co.uk/lindt-mini-pralines-box-100g-union-jack-edition-en-gb-04000539086403

Being made in a factory is not a guarantee that hygiene standards will be better than the kitchen of a good home cook. Lindt is probably about as good as it gets and they don't guarantee an allergen free product.

I love Lindor, but given a choice between chocolate truffles made to the recipe above by a good cook and a box of Lindor I'd go for the home-made version. The ingredients are better.

Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for three days
I used to make them with cream and they last a LOT longer than 3 days - if they don't get eaten.

It’s fucking lunacy. The 21st century is bonkers.
Yep.

This is what Hotel Chocolat contain:

Ingredients: cocoa solids (cocoa butter, cocoa mass), sugar, full cream MILK powder, stabilisers (sorbitol, glycerol), icing sugar, whipping cream (cream (from MILK), stabiliser (carrageenan)), glucose syrup, neutral alcohol, butter oil (from MILK), invert sugar syrup, champagne (SULPHITES), strawberry concentrate, skimmed MILK powder, freeze dried strawberry powder, emulsifier (SOYA lecithin), dextrose, natural colour (beetroot), acidity regulator (citric acid), flavouring. Milk chocolate contains minimum 40% cocoa solids, minimum 20% milk solids. For allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see ingredients in BOLD. May contain traces of tree nuts, peanuts, gluten, wheat, egg, sesame

Would anyone in their right mind seriously prefer that?

Normally, I'd eat it. Not now with covid tho. The exception to that is at school. Kids who I've seen picking their nose and eating it give loving gifts of stuff they've baked. No way on earth would I eat something made by a kid, other than my GS.

I disagree, I’d prefer shop bought as can see the ingredients

Seeing the ingredients is all very well, but I can't see how the list of ingredients on those two well-respected chocolate brands is in any way reassuring. You surely can't think that someone making chocolate truffles at home is going to be putting all that crap in them? Obviously people with allergies might need to know the ingredients, but it's easy to ask.

I actually wouldn't prefer shop bought over homemade in a lot of cases.

I just think it's a bit disingenuous and weirdly smug to think you're doing it because you care more.

A batch of the same boozy truffles going to everyone you know isn't extra thoughtful. It's just something you like to do and feel that you're good at.

I don't like boozy sweets but I've gotten them as gifts. Not because the giver thinks I'll enjoy them, but because they like making them. They don't particularly care if every single person who gets a portion of their batch enjoys them. Not everyone enjoys the same booze, the same chocolate etc.

By that same rational, would you refuse to eat the cake if you went to a party and it had been home made by a friend or family member?

Would you prefer a shop bought cake from tesco to a well made celebration cake made by a home baker?

I've done lots of celebration cakes for various parties and no one has ever refused to eat it because my house may be dirty.

Although when making for others I am more carful with not licking my fingers and more frequent hand washing.

I just think it's a bit disingenuous and weirdly smug to think you're doing it because you care more. A batch of the same boozy truffles going to everyone you know isn't extra thoughtful. It's just something you like to do and feel that you're good at.

Yes, I totally agree with that. I knit because I love it. I knit for other people, if I know they'll appreciate it, but it takes hours and hours and I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't enoy it! Having said that... I like the feeling that I've chosen the yarn and pattern with the recipient in mind, and the feeling that all the while I'm making it, I'm doing something nice for someone I care about. And I hope that comes across a little bit to the person I give it to. Not in an 'I'm superior because I made you a gift' way. Just in a 'this was created especially for you' way.

@lazylinguist But you are doing it for a specific person. You're choosing fabric and designs tailored to someone you know and love. Someone who you know will love it because it's designed just for them!

That's a gorgeous present and one I would absolutely treasure. Plus, I ADORE knitted stuff!

My mum made a Gryffindor hat for my dd last year and it's her most prized possession. But it was made specifically for her because my almost 80 year old mum isn't that much of a Potterhead so wasn't mass producing them!

You can hardly define half a dozen boxes of truffles as mass production! Chocolate’s chocolate and it’s easy enough to give the booze a miss for people who don’t like it.

Gosh, I'm glad the dozens of people that took homemade cakes and sweets from me and my friend during the first lockdown didn't feel that way.

Otherwise the local charity that we were doing a Deliveroo style coffee morning for, would have missed out on the £2,400 that we raised!

Well, clearly some people will eat homemade cakes from strangers, I wouldn’t, nor would others on this thread...we all have different standards

@Nicolastuffedone

Well, clearly some people will eat homemade cakes from strangers, I wouldn’t, nor would others on this thread...we all have different standards

we all have different standards

We all have different prejudices, more like. It’s nothing to do with standards.

Talking about ‘standards’ is very silly when home baked goods are one of the least likely food categories to make you ill and the hygiene standards for commercially produced food are pretty suspect.

People don’t understand risk in the slightest and our consumerist society has done a brilliant job at persuading them that commercially produced stuff is ‘better’, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Op I can't understand the flaming you are getting, I feel the same as you do. I'm meticulous about hygiene around my kitchen, I make sure things are clean and hands washed, everything clean and wiped down. Covid aside, I can't be sure someone else would do the same, and just the thought of eating food that's not been made in a clean environment would make me feel nauseous.

just the thought of eating food that's not been made in a clean environment would make me feel nauseous.

Do you ever eat in a restaurant or someone else’s house?

@VinylDetective you really have a bee in your bonnet! 😂

Well, clearly some people will eat homemade cakes from strangers, I wouldn’t, nor would others on this thread...we all have different standards neuroses

Fixed that for you

[quote OhCaptain]@VinylDetective you really have a bee in your bonnet! 😂[/quote]
Pot/kettle.

Hell no I wouldn’t eat something someone else made unless I was confident of their hygiene and cleanliness. I won’t even eat food my own mother has cooked because I know her husband is a disgusting human being

As has been repeatedly pointed out, you are absolutely kidding yourself if you think that hygiene standards in restaurants, cafés or commercial kitchens are better than home kitchens.

Also I am finding it astonishing how easily so many fully-grown adults are made to feel physically nauseous (or even retch, if various threads are to be believed) at the mere thought of less than perfect hygiene. It's lucky you live in the age of anti-bac and hot running water.

I don't eat homemade edible presents. Allergies and immunocomprimised. I don't eat out much and I do eat from friends if I know their kitchen habits regarding handling high risk foods and allergens! My friend is a vegan coeliac. I eat her treats often, she is well aware of cross contamination and zero high risk foods in the house.

I supervised in a cake shop many moons ago, and I wouldn’t eat anything from there. The other ones, in the same group, were fantastic. It just depends on circumstances.

And I hope that comes across a little bit to the person I give it to. Not in an 'I'm superior because I made you a gift' way. Just in a 'this was created especially for you' way

That's why I love homemade stuff - it seems more "personal" somehow, that someone has taken time out to make something for you, whether it be a hat or some yummy chutney. or booze

I'm generally pretty relaxed about things like this, and would happily receive homemade edibles. However I would not eat anything that my Df had made, he's very unhygienic. He knows this though and never offers any of his baking.

I use to eat all the kids nursery/ school baking until a friend pointed out that 30 snotty kids have all had a turn at stirring.