12 essential foods to send someone who misses New Jersey

You’re not gonna find this delicacy anywhere else. And even if people in other states try to copy it, they can’t re-create this concoction of fried hotdog, potatoes, onions and peppers anywhere else. Buy a dozen or more, freeze them and ship them out quick!

Other parts of the country consider a sloppy Joe a can of sugary red sauce dumped on ground beef. Here, we understand what it really is. The mother of all deli sandwiches, dripping with coleslaw and Russian dressing.

My preference is Manco and Mancos, but whatever your favorite pizza is here in New Jersey, it’s going to be better than theirs wherever they are! Buy a pie, stack up the slices in a couple of neat piles separated by wax paper. Freeze and ship frozen.

Be a hero by providing your out-of-town friends with Tasty Cakes, which are tough to find in other parts of the country. If you really want to make them smile, send them Butterscotch Krimpets or Tandy Takes, which are almost impossible to find outside of the Northeast. You don’t even have to freeze them. Just pop them in the mail. God bless ‘em, these treats have a very long shelf life.

You might like Fralinger's or you might like Criterion. Either way, other states may claim they can copy our salt water taffy and they can’t. It’s just never the same. The texture of New Jersey salt water taffy absolutely cannot be replicated. Grab a couple of buckets of assorted flavors and ship them out to your homesick friends.

This brand has come become quintessential New Jersey with its unique offerings like chocolate covered bacon, blueberries, grapes and the like. Have you ever tasted chocolate in the south? it’s some waxy substance you won’t even recognize. One bite of David Bradley salted caramel covered with milk chocolate and I rest my case.

Why should any former New Jerseyan be deprived of the famous Windmill hotdogs just because they can’t get back here to order them? Luckily, Windmill offers their hotdogs frozen in many supermarkets locally. You can pick up a few packages and ship them frozen to the people you love.

Being that we are the blueberry capital of the country, send them some of Jerseys finest. You can’t even find blueberry cider in most other states. Imagine what it would taste like even if you could? Sold in the specialty shops around the region, blueberry cider should be a staple in the refrigerator of anyone who has a little garden state in their heart.

You might not even eat scrapple while you’re living in New Jersey. Yet, somehow, when you leave here you miss the strange and unique mix of ingredients in this meat delicacy. Easy to freeze and ship, send scrapple, a little piece of home, to your friends who miss New Jersey.

We’re never sure if it’s the water or the process, but no one can ever find hot pretzels like the ones we eat here in New Jersey. Often imitated but never duplicated, although they may have begun as a Philly food, they no longer hold the patent on the best soft pretzels in the country. We’ve mastered the art of soft pretzels here in New Jersey and trust me, your friends out of town miss them.

Any self-respecting South Jerseyan knows about this sweet beverage, also known as “drink a toast.” The subject of a recent documentary, this unique beverage kind of tastes like a very, very concentrated Coca-Cola syrup. On ice, it’s the taste that refreshes. It’s not the most well-known drink and is only available in a small region of New Jersey, but if you know, you know.

I don’t care what you call it. And I’m not here to argue that. Just get your ex-new Jersey friends some of this right now. Trust me, they miss it.