It’s another fun and yummy box for the aspiring chefs this month from Yummy Crate by KiwiCo. The MAGICAL & MUNCHABLE themed box features magical moments backed by munchable delights! The scientific concept for this fascinating box is anthocyanins, which are water-soluble pigments found in plants that can transform the color of certain foods. It sounds interesting already!
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It’s another delightful cooking time while learning the science behind each process. My kids were so excited about this box!
Here is everything in our crate! The box feels heavier than usual, as it contains one kid-friendly kitchen tool and extra supplies to use for the experiment and activity. It included a citrus juicer, four plastic beakers, a brush, a pH color scale, two pipettes, blank bookmarks with sleeves, and a paper tester.
The collectible kitchen tool is a manual citrus juicer, and it comes in two parts: the lid and the cup. The cup has spouts on both sides, making it easier to transfer liquids without the mess, plus measurements on one side for accurate measuring! The lid features a squeezer cone and two opposite vents that allow kids to juice, strain, or pour the liquids out.
Also included is the Magical & Munchable portfolio, which contains all the recipes, experiments, and activity cards. Everything is organized and neatly tucked in the compartments of the folder. There’s a checklist on one side, listing what they can discover in this crate. Junior chefs can just tick off each box once done! Plus, there is a cute sticker photo featuring blueberries that says “I like you berry much!”
Every box has a Yummy Zine! This time, it comes with informative content about color-changing anthocyanin, a fun story for added entertainment, conversation starters, a timeline featuring anthocyanin-rich blueberries, and a short quiz to test kids’ knowledge after going through the whole zine. My kids enjoyed reading the short story!
Other inclusions are a letter for grown-ups, a list of ingredients parents/guardians need to prepare, and suggested ingredient substitutions if a member of your family has dietary preferences.
Aside from the three recipes, my kids were most excited to work with the experiment and activity in the box. By doing these fun projects, they were able to learn about chemistry and understand why certain food reacts when touched or mixed with acid. Most supplies were provided, so it was easy for them to do the experiment and activity.
The experiment and activity require red cabbage juice and lemon juice, so we’ve prepared a decent amount to use for each one beforehand. My kids were able to exercise their finger and arm muscles by slicing the cabbage and squeezing the lemons.
The Make Color-Pop Bookmarks activity was also a hit! The activity card list down all the tools and ingredients needed, plus the instructions. It also contains informative content on how transparent liquids transform into new colors.
For painting the blank bookmarks, my kids blended red cabbage and extracted the juice using a mesh strainer. My young crafters were ecstatic to paint on the bookmarks, and they were amazed at how the cabbage could be used as paint. The whole process can be a bit messy, but that’s where the fun lies! Then, they dipped one cotton swab in lemon juice and one in baking soda to use for drawing on the bookmarks.
With the help of the Yummy Zine, we discussed the science behind it. Red cabbage contains anthocyanin, which changes color when mixed with acids. The lemon juice turned pink while the baking soda turned yellow. Once dried, we kept them in their sleeves, and they look so cute! It’s another magical and valuable lesson about food!
The next activity is to Test Out Cabbage Chemistry. It’s an anthocyanin experiment, allowing kids to know how acidic various substances are. The experiment card also listed the tools needed, along with the instructions. It makes it easy for them to carry out the experiment without worries.
Using the red cabbage juice that we extracted previously, the kids poured 20ml into each beaker. With the help of the pipettes, they added water to one, vinegar, baking soda, and milk to the others. They were totally in awe by how these liquids react to the red cabbage juice and change colors! The pH scale helped them tell the pH level of the solutions, then recorded their observations – color and pH – on the experiment pamphlet. They learned about pH on food and had fun doing so!
Here are the three recipe cards in the box – Transforming Lemonade, Tie-Dye Noodles, and Blueberry Muffins. Each recipe uses ingredients that are rich in anthocyanins, making it so much fun for young chefs to prepare the magical-munchable color-changing treats!
The first recipe in the box is Transforming Lemonade. It’s similar to the cabbage chemical experiment, except we get to drink it afterward! This magical recipe can make four glasses (each one for my kids). The prep time is 20 mins, and the cooking time takes 10 minutes. They’ll be able to improve knife and stovetop skills as well. My little chefs can no longer wait on how this recipe will turn out!
My husband helped my junior chefs in boiling the cabbage leaves. After a minute or so, the water looked cool in blue! They used a colander to separate the leaves and the liquid. Then, back to the stove! Mix in a half cup of sugar until dissolved, and add 2 cups of water to create a cabbage sugar syrup to use as a base for the recipe. Note that an adult’s assistance is still necessary, particularly with hot surfaces.
As we let it cool down, my kids prepared and squeezed the lemon to use for the most thrilling part! They lined their glasses up and put ice in each. They were very excited and feeling giddy! I also helped them pour equal parts of the sugar syrup into the glasses. They then poured the acidic lemon juice and waited for the magic to unfold. The blue sugar syrup then turned into a vibrant pink hue! They were really amazed to see the change in its color! After all the work and amazement, they happily enjoyed the drinks.
Another recipe that calls for an anthocyanin-rich ingredient is Blueberry Muffins. With this baked delight, my children were able to enhance their stovetop and oven skills. The prep time is 30 minutes, and the cooking time is 25 minutes. The recipe yields at least 12 tasty muffins.
My two youngest kids took care of the full muffin recipe! They looked serious at first when measuring the dry ingredients, including baking soda. Then, they proceeded to mixing all the ingredients. We used frozen blueberries, as suggested on the recipe card. They also took out our cupcake pan and lined it with muffin cups where they later poured the batter!
While we waited for the muffins to bake, we discussed how baking soda can make the muffins puffier like the other recipes from the Rise & Shine box and that the blueberries go from blue to green when baking soda gets in contact with the blueberries’ pulp and pigment, therefore increasing the pH level of the food.
The last recipe in the box is Tie-Dye Noodles. When my youngest daughter saw the recipe card, she nicknamed it unicorn noodles! The prep time is 10 minutes, while cooking takes about 20 minutes. Kids can practice knife skills when cutting the ingredients and stovetop skills when cooking the noodles and the side dish. The card also suggested ways to customize this dish!
My little chefs prepared six plates, one for each of us. They’ve chosen fresh salad for sides and chicken breast for protein. They also prepared the sauce for the noodles. It’s a mixture of lime juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, and honey. I’m pleased to see that they enjoyed all of these recipes from Yummy Crate by KiwiCo!
Like the lemonade recipe, we also need the water from boiling the cabbage to color the noodles. My kids soaked the noodles for about ten minutes in the cabbage juice before boiling them until they were ready. It looks really cool in the light purple color! After draining the noodles and rinsing them in cold water to avoid further cooking, we arranged them on our plates. My children drizzled the sauce on top and were delighted once more when the noodles turned pink! We enjoyed eating it paired with the transforming lemonade.
This was such an awesome crate for my kids! All the recipes in the Magical and Munchable themed crate used ingredients with anthocyanins that change color with chemical reactions. It was like magic and my kids were so delighted to learn about the science behind it. Their minds were fed with new knowledge while enjoying the process of cooking. They had fun doing the activity and experimenting as well! Overall, it’s an excellent box for instilling confidence in children in the kitchen and beyond. If you’re looking for a subscription box that is both fun and educational, this is it!
Yummy Crate was designed to foster a love for science and cooking in kids ages 6 to 14, with recipes and activities that explore hands-on experimentation in and out of the kitchen. Your monthly crate includes delicious family-friendly recipes that teach kitchen skills and explore the science of cooking.
Yummy Crate explores STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) topics through engaging, hands-on recipes and projects that aim to inspire, celebrate, and build kids’ natural creativity and confidence — in the kitchen! Each crate explores three delicious family-friendly recipes and two fun projects while providing hands-on experimentation and demonstration of scientific, culinary, and creative concepts.
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