Yummy Bazaar November 2015 Full Experience Subscription Box Review

The Yummy Bazaar destination for November is France!  Yummy Bazaar delivers gourmet food items to your door monthly.  The items for the Destination Food Club are carefully selected from a different single country every month.  With the Full Experience you’ll get 6-8 full sized gourmet items from your destination for $35.95.  There is also a Sampler subscription that sends 6-8 sample sizes for $9.95.  We received the Full Experience box.

Some beautiful visuals of French locales and cuisine helped set the mood.

You can tell the contents will be high end just from the care that went into choosing the aesthetic of the packing.

Beautiful cards welcome you to your culinary destination and describe the delights that await in your box.

Two recipes were included that used the items in this month’s box.

Not a lot of explanation is needed  for the ready-to-eat items.  Ingredient information is provided for each item.

The contents were lovingly packed to stand up to shipping — ours arrived in superb condition.

All the products in this month’s box.

Love the packaging for all the items!

Griottines Morello Cherries in Kirsch by Peureux ($2.95) I couldn’t bear to taste the very dear cherries (there are 4) so I instead tasted the liquid (and I love Morellos – they are THE BEST!) and whew, blow me over, there’s some serious brandying going on here. These would be absolutely lovely with some champagne. I would have said or sparkling wine, but I can’t do that for the France Box. Champagne it is!

Bonne Mama Châtaigues à la Vanille – Chestnut Jam ($5.99) I’m not a chestnut fan, but Tom is a chestnut fiend. He said this one was pretty dark compared to typical crème de marrons and that normally they are very light. This has a very jammy texture and the dark color I think can be attributed to the cane sugar, which was perhaps caramelized. An interesting and enjoyable treat. I have no doubts my husband has plans for this entire jar – he’s like a kid in a candy shop.

Benoit Riz de Camargue long noir – long black rice ($7.40) The card has me intrigued:

The Camargue, a flat marshy region just south of Arles formed by the Rhône delta, is famous for its salt flats, horses, bulls, cowboys, flamingoes … and rice. Rice cultivation in the area goes back to the 14th century.

It appears that this rice is really well suited for fish and shellfish dishes, hence the baked cod recipe included with the box.

Pommery Mustarde de Meaux ($12.95) I’ve had this mustard before and it’s simply delicious.  Pommery is a world renowned mustardarie that has been making mustard from the same recipe since 1632 and they pack everything in stoneware and use breathable corks to make sure the mustards taste just perfect! The vinegar base is excellent. This was sealed with a plastic wrapper on the top and is a very large jar – and much better suited to shipping than previous jars I have received with the nice plastic cork top.  We’ll put sausages on the menu right away! Also of note – Tom remembers trying this item in the past too, and his eyes just about popped out of his head with the size of this container! We’re both very happy about this large keg of whole grain mustard! It really is the best.

Provence Épice Epices Rabelais – Spices ($4.50) This is a spice blend that has been the same since 1880. I was surprised to see that it was so fine, but the top of the box notes that it’s extra fines. The card notes that it’s for meat, poultry, pâté, rillettes, and ready made dishes. The back of the box says: “composed of aromatic plant substances of exotic and indigenous origin” and the website notes that they are used in stuffed cabbage and pot-au-feu. The box also suggest rabbit. This tastes like ground cloves mostly, and we’re sure there was some tarragon/sage/marjoram in there too. Seems good for gamey meats.

It is ground super-fine for ease of use in dishes such as pot-au-feu.  It is also likely ground that fine to help disguise the top secret composition.

Gavottes Crêpe Dentelle – Crispy Brittany Cakes ($5.60) These were so wonderfully delicate and crispy, and they had the minimum amount of solid material to make it like eating butter. Can’t get more French or better than that. The method of production is apparently a closely guarded trade secret!

They sort of taste like frosted branflakes. Hard to describe but definitely has a sugary, buttery, malty flavor.

Biscuiterie de Provence Délice de L’amandier  – French Almond Cake ($15.95) We decided to actually save this gluten-free almond cake for the pantry. It contains only sugar, almonds, eggs, fresh butter, and pure vanilla extract. After sampling all the other items we just couldn’t fit another bite! I thought the can was inventive and unique. One of the things we love about international subscription boxes is that they tend to include those “keep in the pantry” items for company that don’t seem as prevalent in the US any longer (but we wish they were!). It’s so great to just put something on a serving platter with a little accompaniment and pretend that you really just had an almond cake sitting around!

Klaus Lait Fourré Caramel Fondant au sel de Salins-les-Bains – Milk Chocolate Bar with Salted Caramel Filling ($4.75) This is a chocolatier that’s been around for nearly 160 years! The actual taste of the chocolate was a bit odd – it’s a very dark milk chocolate, though still a milk chocolate. It went nicely with the caramel.

This was a great box! It had around $60 in value and not a single price was inflated. The items were a nice mix between savory and sweet with some unusual selections that we, again, have never seen before. The Yummy Bazaar site only has France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan as sections on their site, so we’re guessing that Germany, Japan, or Taiwan must be next (we hope it’s Germany for the holidays). This is the exact box you’ll receive as a subscriber this month, and it will ship between the 15th and the 18th.

Visit Yümmy Bazaar to subscribe or find out more!