January 2016 GreekPack Subscription Box Review

GreekPack is a monthly subscription box sending you the best of Greece! Every month you’ll get 6-8 new Greek goodies sent straight from Greece.  The January box celebrated the New Year!

The box was headlined by a couple timeless Greek treats that are still popular at New Year celebrations today.  I really enjoy the great detail provided on the description card — this design of the card has been simplified, omitting the decorative meander, but there is now more room for sharing the stories behind the items!

The selections included two items exclusive to GreekPack.  We review many snack, food, and culture subscriptions, and I think I have yet to see any of the items in this month’s GreekPack elsewhere — for all intents and purposes, every item is an exclusive.

The GreekPack packaging has been evolving over time.  While in the original boxes you literally couldn’t tell which side was up, and all the items were piled in, the items are now wrapped and labeled more extensively.   The clear wrapping allowing you to see the food makes for a much more enticing presentation.  The outer box is now more reusable and mailbox friendly.

Everything in the January box.

Xerotigano:  A popular Christmas and New Year treat on the isle of Crete, Xerotigano is made from fried and sweetened strips of dough.  It holds a lot of grease when cool, but is still very delicious.  Reminiscent of a funnel cake that has cooled, but with a slightly more brittle texture.

Vasilopita:  A New Year’s Day treat celebrating the legend of Saint Basil, Vasilopita traditionally contains a coin.  The finder is said to enjoy great luck in the coming year.  Alas, we found no coin in our slice, but it was delicious.   A fairly hearty cake for a white flour-based recipe, it is topped with powdered sugar and contains walnuts, poppy seeds, and orange zest — a little like a robust lemon-poppy seed muffin, but with orange as the citrus.

Sunflower Seeds:  A product of Western Greece, sunflower seeds are a popular and healthy snack often consumed at sporting events.

These were fabulous and really unique.  In the United States, sunflower seeds are coated with the powdery residue of a brine (technically a salt, but perhaps not even NaCl), so the seeds taste too salty and sting your lips.  In complete contrast, these Greek seeds bear visible crystals of real salt.  You can taste the difference, with these seeds having a much more natural and pleasant flavor.

Pavlidis 3Bit:  What a tasty candy bar!  The center is a tea biscuit (animal-cracker type cookie) smothered with sweet and creamy frosting.   The entire bar is coated in a smooth and good quality milk chocolate.  This is the first I’ve seen of this particular bar, but it is now a favorite that I will keep an eye out for.

O-MAMY Caramels:  Assorted fruit flavor hard candies with a velvety texture.  They are also less sweet than most, so they present a very natural flavor.

Aromatic Holiday Tea: a GreekPack exclusive, our selection was a black tea mixed with all manner of holiday spices.

The mix contained almonds, cloves, orange peels, and some flower petals.

Greek Poem Calendar:  An exclusive year 2016 calendar, completely in Greek.   

Each page has the date, day of the week, time of sunrise and sunset, plus what I believe are references to daily Bible readings.  The back of each sheet has Greek poem.

We continue to see really great items from Greekpack.  The packaging has improved, and the selections are really meaningful and culturally relevant.  We are really excited to see the great pastry and baked items, because they are always really tasty and unique.

Visit Greek Pack to subscribe or find out more!