Yummy Bazaar March 2016 Subscription Box Review – Full Experience Japan Box

This edition of Yummy Bazaar ventured to Japan!  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.

As always, the box was packed in a smartly utilitarian, corrugated, brown paper, and tape combo.  It is a very clever packing scheme — recyclable and cool looking.  It looks a bit like a Bento box arrangement — how appropriate!

They dropped the postcards in favor of a folded-paper booklet, but they still provide a beautiful visual of the destination country.

Two Japanese recipes were recreated so they can be made using primarily items from the box.

The product description pages were more useful, giving a brief description of each item, along with several suggested uses, the retail price, and the origin.  Everything in this box was made in Japan– the descriptions go even further and cite the city in which the product is made.

Perhaps it’s because this is the Japanese box, but our contents were packed in an even more orderly fashion that usual.  Everything arrived in superb condition.  I can’t recall ever having real issues with anything we’ve received.  The jars are tightly wrapped in a cushiony paper, with items when appropriate, just in case something were to break.  They are nestled together well, and the corrugated interior lid prevents shifting in transit.

Love the packaging for all the items!  The perforated paper is really effective as padding jars, but it also looks really cool when taped up like it is.

All the products in this month’s box.  This assortment had all shelf-stable items that could hang in the pantry for a while.  As much as I love having to eat half the box immediately, it is nice to be able to work the items into the month’s menu at our own pace.

Teraokake Premium Yuzu Ponzu Sauce ($9.95):  Ponzu sauce is generally soy sauce with citrus added — this version takes it a step further.  The family that owns the small company, Teraokake, layers on a mural of delightful notes, augmenting the sauce with a touch of bonito, oyster, mushroom, seaweed and ginger.  Adds awesome asian flair to any dish and makes a wonderful base for a sauce or marinade.

Taiyo Sangyo Roasted Sesame Goma Dressing ($8.75):  This dressing is quintessentially Japanese, with the sesame seeds even sourced from within Japan.  Roasted sesame joins with a rich, creamy vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin-infused emulsion to make a tangy, ready to eat dressing and sauce that burst with authentic Japanese flavor.

Saniku Sweet Black Sesame Paste ($9.95):  This spread is made simply from black sesame seeds mixed with sugar, honey, oil, and touch of salt.  The texture is creamy and rich, like a creme de maron showcasing the unique and enchanting flavor of black sesame seeds — the paste is used as a dessert filling in all manner of Japanese pastries and desserts.

Sweet Sakura Green Tea ($6.95):  Japanese-grown green tea leaves mixed with dried cherry leaves and blossoms — two iconic Japanese flora combined into an elegant tea.  Bags are ready to steep and enjoy.

Daiko Wasabi Crackers with Seaweed ($4.95):  Crumply wasabi flavored crackers topped with a layer of seaweed and fried into crispy squares ready for snacking.  Wonderful straight from the bag or floated on broth.

Kobayashi Gluten Free Miso Ramen ($12.95):  This pack has two big bundles of fresh ramen noodles, each complete with an authentic miso broth.  The noodles are tender and not dried into a brick, so they have a wonderful fresh pasta texture and taste — a serious upgrade from what you ate in college.  Rice-based ramen is gluten free and has no wheat, dairy, eggs or nuts.

Shimizu Premium Baumkuchen Cake ($9.95):  Made of egg and wheat, with a splash of rum, this soft cake is modeled after the original baked at a German exhibition hosted in Hiroshima in 1919.  The ring shaped cake is a slice of a long rolled sheet of cake, creating a pretty, ringed appearance and texture.  This style of cake remains popular in Japan, and I can taste the similarity between this and sweetened milk cakes that are also popular traditional desserts.  It is very sweet and moist, with a soft and ever so slightly granular texture.

Yummy Bazaar is one of my favorite “round-the-world” boxes, because the curation is so good — they find high-quality, often upscale items that are absolutely delicious and really represent the essential character of a country’s cuisine.  This is especially useful for exploring foods from countries where language barriers may otherwise present challenges to obtaining authentic goods made in-country. Also FYI – you can also skip or cancel at any time – and they will accommodate most special diets if you need. They have a $9.95 per month Mini Sampler box too!

The total value was about $63.45, based on YB per item retail pricing — All the items can be found individually at Yummy Bazaar in their shop. This is such a great value!

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