But alas, it’s time to refresh our team list of beloved purchases and finds. Last month, the Eater staff shopped for radicchio print dresses, microplanes, and practical yet chic cake stands. This month, I noticed that staffers brought home finds that felt especially practical; there was high praise for half- and quarter-sheet size parchment paper, trusty kitchen vacuums, and for reusable, circular stretch lids that make it possible to take bowls of big, leafy salads to the park with zero spillage. That’s not to say there aren’t a few indulgences in our lineup of May purchases (notably, a Diptyque candle that the heirloom tomato scent-lovers are going to fawn over), but this month’s cornucopia is definitely a shopping blueprint for general outdoor party prep, spring cleaning, and DIY Jell-O shots.
These manuka honey and ginger chews saved my throat mid-allergy season
Spring in New York City is beautiful, but it was wreaking havoc on my throat — so I bought two brands of purportedly throat-soothing lozenges to carry around in my tote bag, including Grether’s Ginger Lemon Pastilles, which are the much more famous Swiss go-to for singers such as Ariana Grande, and Honey Droplet, a New Zealand-based brand that I first spotted at Ten Ichi Mart in Brooklyn. The winner in my book is Honey Droplet, which is only made with two simple ingredients: ginger and New Zealand manuka honey (which is famously filled with health benefits). Compared to the pastilles, it had both a zestier, fresher flavor and a more marked effect on soothing my throat. — Francky Knapp, commerce writer
My first whiff of Diptyque’s odor-neutralizing candle, dubbed “la droguerie” (French for “hardware store”) was at a Halloween party thrown in the home of a collective of stylish-yet-insufferable Park Slope psychoanalysts filled with great Danish furniture, Tekla hand towels, and an incredible cheese board. This candle filled the entire lower floor of the brownstone with the aroma of basil, mint, and ripe tomato leaf in a way that felt subtle but comforting, and now I keep one on my own kitchen table to light up after cooking a particularly garlic-y meal. I never see it marketed as Diptyque’s contribution to the influx of tomato candle aromas, but it certainly deserves the label (and possibly a shared crown with Flamingo Estate’s tomato candle). — FK
