My Degustabox Taste Report for the food products in the September Subscription Box
Degustabox is a monthly surprise box of food products, offered by subscription. Each month you receive a box filled to the brim with full-sized products including a mix of sweet treats, snacks, sauces, condiments, and even cereals, juices, dressings and marinades — the products sent to you are different every month, you never know what you’ll get and it is totally fun to open up your box and check out all the goodies! You will receive 10 to 15 products in the box each month and you can cancel your subscription whenever you like. The September box contained a wide variety of different products, which I sampled and have written a review and rating for each item. Bonus, see below the product report for information on box subscription pricing and half off discount offer!
Taste Test Report : Degustabox September 2016 Subscription Box
Ratings: 4 stars = Super Yummy; 3 stars = Yummy; 2 stars = Meh; 1 star = Yucky
- ZOLLI DROPS “The Clean Teeth Drops” — Described on the bag as “the after you eat treat for a healthy smile”. This was a bag of individually wrapped sugar-free hard candy drops, in assorted fruit flavors. I thought these were actually pretty delicious, nice and fruity and not overly sweet (which I appreciate). Though, I must say, I am definitely a bit skeptical about the actual healthiness or “teeth cleaning” benefits of these little drops (especially when looking at the list of ingredients). ***
- BUSTANUT! : Flavor “Maple Bacon” — 2-ounce bag of flavored peanuts. These peanuts are lightly dusted with a maple bacon seasoning that tastes mainly of a rather smokey bacon flavor rather than maple – actually tastes a bit like a barbecue flavored chip. Really good. This comes in a long narrow bag that forces you to pour the product into your hand, rather than reach into the bag – I don’t really prefer this type of packaging, but it’s okay. I will definitely want to purchase this product again and try out other flavors! ****
- BUSTANUT! : Flavor “Bourbon” — A second bag of BUSTANUT! flavored peanuts was included – I can’t really taste the Bourbon in these peanuts – the dusting of seasoning tastes quite salty, with a bit of garlic powder and a hint of sweet. Very yummy (though I think I like the Maple Bacon flavor even more!). I like this nut brand a lot. ****
- POPCORNERS Popped Corn Chips : Carnival Kettle — “Crispy & crunchy popped corn chips” that are, as it says on the package, “Never ever fried”. Degustabox sent a big 7-ounce bag of these yummy chips. They have a lightly baked taste, just slightly sweet, and are nice and crispy. I also appreciate the fact that these have a simple, pure list of ingredients. Very good chips. ****
- TOOSUM Gluten-free Oatmeal Bar : Flavor “Cranberry and Acai” — A 1.07 oz. bar that is just 100 calories. A small, chewy, rather bland-tasting bar that has a slight fruity sweet flavor to it and a very unappealing aftertaste. This bar is also rather unappetizing in appearance. To me, 100 calories seems like quite a lot for such a little bar. This is described as a “healthy” snack bar and I guess “maybe” it is (compared to a chocolate candy bar) but, to be honest, I personally don’t see this as all that healthy. * ½
- HAK’S PAKS ONE POT COOKING SAUCE : Flavor : Rustic Ratatouille — This is a rather thin tomato sauce (the first ingredient is water), flavored with a mix of veg and herbs. I appreciate that this is a sauce made with all pure ingredients (rather than chemicals) and thought the flavor was decent. My main complaint is that there was a lot less sauce in the pouch (the pouch says “Feeds 4”) than I was expecting and I made enough pasta to serve two. The sauce was really not enough – I think one pouch is basically just one serving (really only enough to “Feed 1”, making it rather pricey!). Degustabox included a recipe for “Hak’s One Pot Rustic Ratatouille” that uses this product, and that is what I made for dinner. It was good but needed a lot more sauce! ** ¾
My pasta dish, made from the recipe featured in this month’s Degustabox for “Hak’s One Pot Rustic Ratatouille”. - MICHEL ET AUGUSTIN Shortbread Cookies : “Pure butter and a pinch of sea salt” Flavor — Small box with two wrapped pouches, each containing 3 cookies. A little floral shaped shortbread-style cookie that is really delicious – pure, homemade flavor, very buttery rich with a hint of salt. This cookie is incredibly good and absolutely fabulous (me and Hubby both agreed on this, right from the first bite) – what a discovery! **** + for extra special
- MICHEL ET AUGUSTIN Shortbread Cookies : “Pure butter and chocolate chips” Flavor — Also a small box with two wrapped pouches, each containing 3 cookies. A crispy and delicate little cookie, very buttery and sprinkled with small dots of chocolate throughout – this has the taste of a very traditional, homemade chocolate chip cookie. Excellent. ****
- ENTENMANN’S Little Bites : Chocolate Chip Muffins — A bag of four bite-sized little muffins, soft and filled with lots of little chocolate chip bits. These taste pretty good, but are quite a bit overly sweet for my taste (the first ingredient is sugar!). I think children would love these (but, I must say, the list of ingredients in these is large and unhealthy sounding — i feel it would be best to serve kids something more natural). ** ½
- NANDO’S Peri-Peri Sauce “Medium” — A 4.7 ounce bottle of hot sauce, made in South Africa, that contains spices that include “African Bird’s Eye Chili”. We always have several bottles of different hot sauces on our dining room table, this is one I have not tried before. This sauce smells good, and has a rich amber color. I sampled this with a few drops on my scrambled eggs and thought it added a nice little bit of spice without being too hot (just right, actually!). I thought this sauce had a unique flavor all its own and welcome the addition of this to my table, alongside my other hot sauces. ****
- THE ENGLISH PROVENDER CO. : “Caramelized Red Onion Chutney” — This has a sweet, onion-y flavor and would make a nice condiment for a meat or other savory dish. I made a dish from a recipe off The English Provender website: Caramelised Red Onion Chutney and Goats’ Cheese Sausage Rolls. This recipe uses Puff Pastry and was easy to make. I thought it came out pretty tasty, though was slightly heavy on the sage flavor (Hubby loved this recipe, though, and thought the amount of sage was just right). *** ½
The Pork Sausage Rolls, recipe baked using The English Provender Co. Caramelized Red Onion Chutney and Puff Pastry - THE ENGLISH PROVENDER CO. : “Sweet Tomato & Chili Chutney” — The condiments from this company come in pretty little square bottles that give the products a quite upscale look that is very appealing. I did not get a chance to sample this chutney yet, but will add in my opinion here when I do.
- THE ENGLISH PROVENDER CO. : “Luxury Lemon Curd” — I have also not tasted this product yet, but I love anything lemon flavored. I am not totally sure what to do with this, but I see a few recipes for baked treats (cupcakes, scones!) on the company’s website which look good.
- SAM MILLS : Gluten-Free Corn & Quinoa Pasta — Did not try this yet, I’m not really a fan of the taste of most gluten-free products – but I’ll definitely give this a chance and make a pasta dish using this. I’ll hold off a rating until I try it.
- SPARKLING BITTERS : “Meyer Lemon” Flavor — A sparkling water with a “dash of tonic bitters”, packaged in a glass bottle. This tastes like a bubbly water with just a hint of lemon taste to it. This would probably be better used as a cocktail ingredient, perhaps with gin?! Kind of hard for me to give a rating to a water, but this tastes pretty fresh and pure.
Summary and Subscription Information:
As you can see, this month’s box was jammed full of new stuff to try (very appealing for foodies!) and contained many very tasty treats, including a few I really loved. I very much liked the two flavored peanut snacks from BustaNUT! and will want to try more of this company’s snack products (I see from their website that they offer 8 different flavors of these – I want!). And those “Michel et Augustin” shortbread cookies – oh my, yum yum yummy! Okay, there were just a few foods in this month’s box that weren’t completely wonderful, but then everyone’s taste is different (obviously, not everyone can be expected to love everything in the box) and I am happy to say that I thought the majority of the box items were pretty darn great.
If you are interested in trying out a Degustabox for yourself, here’s the details : the box costs $19.99 a month and shipping is free. This is a monthly subscription, so you will receive one box a month and will be surprised with 10 to 15 food products in each box. The total value of the products sent will exceed the cost of your box and you can unsubscribe whenever you like. The Degustabox USA box delivery is available for residents living in the 48 Contiguous United States. Here is a half off discount to save you money on your first box:
Get 50% off your first Degustabox! Enjoy 10-15 FULL-SIZE tasty goodies delivered straight to your door for just $9.99! Shipping is free!
Enjoy the Eats!
Disclosure: I was sent this box for free in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated for the review and all opinions are my own.
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