Holiday packages

A gift from sunny Israel is even more welcome where it's cold and gloomy outside.

By LAURA TAUB
holiday package 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
holiday package 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Every winter, as the first Jaffa oranges arrived, my father used to tell us about his first encounter with a Jaffa orange. He told us how his mother let all the kids smell and touch it first, and then very carefully peeled and divided the segments among the children, telling them that each segment held the rays of the warm sun from “the land of our fathers.” He used to say that was the best-tasting orange he ever ate.
Times have changed, and one can now get oranges almost all year round in Europe as well as America, but a gift of citrus fruit and other goodies from Israel is still very welcome.
During the pre-holiday season, in November and December, more than 70,000 gifts are sent from Israel to locations all over the world, 40 percent of them to the US, 45% to Western Europe, and 15% elsewhere.
The Ben-Ezer plantation has been sending beautiful and tasteful gift packages of citrus fruit grown on its plantation, as well as other gourmet items from Israel, for the last 20 years. The ultimate box, for instance, has oranges, red grapefruit and sweets, Yarden Merlot wine, dried fruit-and-nut cookies, milk chocolate bars adorned with various caramelized nuts and almonds, a colorful selection of dried fruit, Galilee herbal tea, savory cheese crackers, black olive tapenade, sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and scented olive oil with thyme leaves, which costs between $150 and $170 to send to relatives in Europe. Or the best seller, the popular Mediterranean box containing oranges, red grapefruit and sweets, Yarden sauvignon blanc wine, seasonal fruit confiture, olives, extra virgin olive oil, dates, halva snacks, pistachios, baklava, nougat of nuts and peanuts, and roasted ground Turkish coffee.
There are other boxes, like the one I sent this year to relatives in cold and dark Sweden, called the Green Box, which contains oranges, red grapefruit and sweets, extra virgin olive oil, olives, oatmeal cookies, savory rye crackers topped with sunflower seeds, mint leaves infusion with strainer, mixed nuts, tehina paste with a recipe and fine quality chocolates decorated with nuts and dried fruit ($160).
There are also packages without citrus fruit, boxes that have only citrus fruit, boxes that include Dead Sea cosmetic products, dried fruit boxes, tea boxes and calendars or art books and more. All the prices include packing and delivery.
If you opt for doing it yourself, you must keep in mind that food should be packed properly, and there must be a receipt included for customs. Some countries require other import documentation for packages of food, and there are certain restrictions. For instance, you cannot send alcoholic beverages to some countries, and chocolate, dried fruit or honey to others.
I tried saving money by doing it myself, and then opted for Ben-Ezer. It turned out to be easier, beautiful and arrived in time for their family dinner.
 www.benezer.co.il