Beekman 1802 Specialty Food Club September 2016 Subscription Box Review

Beekman 1802 Specialty Food Club is a monthly food subscription for small-batch artisan food lovers from Beekman 1802.  You’ll get a box of delicious artisan food items – often exclusive to this box –  for $50 each month.  Not only will you receive superb gourmet ingredients, but also recipes from the artisans themselves.

The elegant inner box is well-protected, padded inside an outer shipping box.

The items are properly wrapped and secured to avoid damage while in transit. This subscription is almost over-packaged (but it’s easily recyclable), but really, none of these items have a chance of breaking!

The Beakman Boys often include a recipe or two to help you get the most out of the items.  They are simple and clearly written, showcasing an item in the current month’s box, and they are pre-tested to ensure success.

Everything in my September box!

Cider & Sage Leaf Braising Sauce ($3.99):  This sauce clearly calls out for some pork!  This is the high-end, small farm version of Simmer Sauces, making a beautifully tender and seasoned roast or breast so easy.  I could also see this working very well with turkey.

Autumn Harvest Honey ($10):  This honey has a unique taste and a slightly foamy texture.  We surmised that it may have a touch of beeswax from the comb suspended within.  We could taste the influence of the golden rod on the flavor — it was rather tasty, despite the unfavorable association with horrible allergies!

Roasted Sweet Pepper Lime Jelly ($10.75):  Beekman does unusual jams quite well.  This one doesn’t bring the heat; instead, it combines a slightly sweet bell pepper with a burst of bright and tangy lime to make a semi-savory sweet jelly that shifts the pepper jelly paradigm.  The boys were kind enough to include a sweet Salsa Cruda recipe incorporating the jelly.

Pickled garlic shoots.  These are a very popular produce item now, supplanting the squash blossom as the “harvested-instead-of-the-actual-fruit” veggie of choice.  Mild and elegant, they have a light garlic flavor and firm texture.

Chewey Gooey Caramel ($12.95):  Good things come with the addition of goat’s milk.  These caramels have a smooth and super-soft texture (some of the softest caramels I’ve had), but the goat’s milk adds that bit of slight sour and softness to really complement the cooked sugars.  Some had an extra pinch of sea salt, and the others contained a healthy dose of beautifully roasted espresso coffee.

Harvest Pumpkin Spice Chili Seasoning ($3.99):  Chili is a dish that is amenable to many different combinations of spice beyond cumin and chili — it is an ideal medium for incorporating the warm spices of Fall.

The blend combines your standard chili spices with those of the pumpkin pie world – cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg.  I can’t help but think of that one time we stopped at a Texas Road House for lunch and were served chili with cinnamon added instead of cumin (and it wasn’t bad)!

All the ingredients gathered for the chili.  I got big cans of tomato and pumpkin, so I only needed half.  I likewise scaled back the bell pepper, as the ones I found were pretty big.

The recipe was really delicious!  The big flavor from the seasoning was able to accommodate the pumpkin without being overwhelmed, and the dish still retained a chili-like character.

This month the total value of this box was around $42.68, not counting the pickled garlic shoots!  We are really enjoying the Beekman 1802 boxes — the products are really high, artisan quality, and they incorporate as many small farm and neighbor-grown ingredients as is seasonally practical.  The last several boxes have even included an extra, unlabeled item or two that the boys just dreamed up and haven’t put to market yet!

We love the way the box is curated — though technically not a curation, since all the products are Beekman 1802, the Beekman boys have selected complementary items from their large catalogue of products, giving each month a theme.  It seems obvious, but it actually runs contrary to the scattershot approach of many artisan food subscriptions.

We continue to be thoroughly impressed with the sheer number of well-conceived and high quality products the Beekman 1802 Farm brings to market — every box has had all new items we hadn’t seen before, and they have been absolutely delicious!

Visit Beekman 1802 Specialty Food Club to subscribe or find out more!