What the Eater Staff Bought in May (Including Diptyque’s ‘Secret’ Tomato Candle)

We replenished our supply of Lao Gan Ma, swooned over vintage butter dishes, and found a perfume that smells like lemon shortcake and reels in major compliments

May flew by like a flash in my favorite stainless steel pan. As Eater’s shopping overlords, we browsed plenty of deals, including a lobster-pot-sized hoard of Memorial Day weekend sales, pitted the best heritage Dutch oven companies against one another, and found a new, herbaceous summer liqueur that was once made by 17th-century monks in Ibiza to test our Aperol spritz fealty.

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

A vintage butter dish

After hearing my coworkers (and for many years before that, my mom) wax poetic about how life-changing it is to get a proper butter dish and keep your stick at room temp, I finally caved and bought a cool midcentury butter receptacle from my favorite place on the internet (besides Eater), good old eBay. It really is delightful having highly spreadable butter at any moment of the day, and frankly, just feels chic to keep it on the kitchen counter. While you might not be able to score the exact amber hobnail glass dish I copped, there are lots of very similar ones still waiting for a forever home, including this beauty. — Hilary Pollack, senior commerce editor

Diptyque’s ‘secret’ tomato candle

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

One nut spread to rule them all

Even though we don’t have any peanut or nut allergies in the family, our allergist told us to keep various nuts in the kids’ meal rotation just in case. The easiest way to do that, at least with my picky eaters, is this Target-sourced mixed nut butter, which we put in yogurt and spread on bread and waffles, regularly switching between the classic Skippy jar and this one. It’s genuinely good, does not dry out immediately after it’s been opened, and has been embraced by the whole family: kids and adults alike. — Stephanie Wu, editor in chief

A lemony vanilla fragrance that’s reeling in the compliments

Me, personally? I love a gourmand scent, aka a perfume that literally smells good enough to eat. I change my signature scent about once a year, and my most recent fixation is Profumum Roma’s Dulcis in Fundo, which smells like the taste of lemon meringue pie, very vanilla- and citrus-forward but with a bit of crumb, whipped cream, and stone fruit to it. While it’s absolutely on the sweeter side of the spectrum, it’s also subtle — not vulgar or cloying, and it smells expensive, not like a mall-store body spray. No joke, I started wearing this perfume about two weeks ago and I’ve received at least half a dozen compliments from friends, strangers, and Uber drivers. Scent is a very personal thing, which is why it’s great that services like Scentbox exist, which will send you a month’s supply of a perfume so you can take it for a test run before committing to a big, expensive bottle. — HP

These stretchy lids for bringing big salads to the park

Now that it’s warm enough to start hanging out in the parks again in New York City, I’m finding new ways to bring some of my favorite lunches to the picnic blanket. Stasher makes these handy, reusable (and dishwasher- and microwave-safe) stretch lids that fit a variety of bowl sizes, which means I have finally unlocked the ability to take my big, leafy salads to the park without squashing them down in a to-go container. — FK

These Rick Owens-y kitchen shoes (can take me anywhere and everywhere)

If the name Snibbs rings a bell, it’s because the chef-designed footwear company has not only been making some of our staff’s favorite kitchen clogs (which look just as great on a bar terrace, by the way), but the brand’s founder, Daniel Shemtob, has been providing much community relief to workers in the food and restaurant industry who were impacted by the Los Angeles fires this past winter. The brand recently came out with this sleek all-black Pro Eclipse shoe, which slips on like a glove and packs plenty of cushioning in the sole. As with all Snibbs footwear, these boot-like shoes are PFA-free, washable, and touted to be durable enough to withstand heavy duty kitchen shifts, but I also just love that they look like the culinary equivalent of a Rick Owens slip-on. — FK

A great vacuum for the kitchen and beyond

It’s been a lifelong struggle to figure out the most efficient way to clean countertops after cooking. I’ve tried all the sprays and the reusable sponges, and while most do help, there always seems to be some degree of crumb action happening or some loose rice grains remaining. But recently, I picked up a countertop vacuum that has made me dread the post-cooking clean-up significantly less. It’s wireless, which makes it easy to get those tough-to-reach corners, and the rechargeable base is slim enough to sit on the countertop within reach of most messes. Now, no loose coffee grind will evade me (or my countertop vacuum). — Rebecca Roland, editor

It’s Jell-O shot season!

You heard me. My birthday was a few weeks ago and I made 150 Jell-O shots because people love them and they’re fun and delicious. Clear some fridge space and keep it classic (raspberry Jell-O mix with vodka) or be ambitious (jasmine milk tea boba shots with rum) — just make sure you have the proper containers for transporting and serving them. Easy. — HP

I had to have these tiles (as coasters) from Anna Sui’s apartment tour

Right now, I can’t quite justify dropping hundreds of dollars on vintage tiles by William de Morgan, the early-20th century English potter who was so chummy with William Morris. But I can take home reproductions of the whimsical tiles from Zazzle to use as coasters on my balcony. — FK

The actual GOAT of chile crisps

There are a bazillion chile crisps on the market these days, and as a longtime food and shopping writer, I’ve tried many of them. I love the Momofuku one with black truffle and Boon’s crunchy take on the condiment with anchovies, fennel, and shallots — look, I could go on and on, but all you really need to know is that at the end of the day, my heart will always belong to Lao Gan Ma, the iconic Chinese legacy brand with the grandma on the label (the name translates to “Old Godmother”). Fun fact: While I’ve been eating Lao Gan Ma since childhood (it’s a staple on-table condiment in many Asian restaurants around the Bay Area, where I’m from), I just learned today that Tao Huabi, the company’s founder, grew up in poverty and was widowed in her 20s, but thanks to the success of her ridiculously good condiment, is now a billionaire. Life’s crazy! Anyway, I recently restocked and damn, Lao Gan Ma really is still the greatest. — HP

Don’t sleep on half- and quarter-sheet size parchment paper

Rather than tussling with a roll of parchment paper, I’m fully converted to the ease and simplicity of parchment sheets that fit my sheet pans. I have them in half and quarter sheet sizes, and it’s perfect for all of my oven cooking, whether it’s veggies or Totino’s Pizza Rolls. — Dianne de Guzman, regional editor

Heed our words of praise for these game-changers, and see you next month.