Universal Yums May 2018

For those who don't know, Universal Yums is a monthly food subscription service. For $14, $25, or $39 you get 6+, 12+, or 20+ snacks and candies from a different country. Check them out for yourselves: UNIVERSAL YUMS

(I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones)

May's box comes from the Philippines! Here's some trivia for you (answer at the end of the post). Filipinos send more ________ per person than any other country. A.Texts; B.Fan mail; C.Emails; D.Packages

I don't think there was one item I didn't like. Granted, they weren't all fantastic but I enjoyed everything.

Boy Bawang Barbeque Flavored Corn Nuts: I loved that these aren't the same texture as a corn nut we know in the states. These are much crispier than their US cousin and they've got a lot of garlic added. Pretty dang good, unless you don't like garlic. Then you might want to avoid these.

Pinipig Polvoron Toasted Rice Flavored Shortbread: This was probably one of my favorite treats. I love short bread and this stuff was similar in texture to the purple ube one we received in the last Philippines box. But the flavor is milder, not too sweet, and you get that toasted rice finish at the end. Delicious!

Cupp Keyk Nutty Chocolate Flavor: This was okay. It was a little on the dry side but the flavor was good. The peanuts added a nice layer to it.

Leslie's Cheezy Corn Crunch Cheddar Jalapeno Flavored Corn Snack: These are a lot like Cheetos but with a muted, more natural cheese flavor. The jalapeno is not spicy (which, apparently, hot and spicy is not the norm in the Philippines) but adds a nice flavor.

Fudgee Bar Cake with Salted Caramel Filling: The cake was so much better than the cupcake. Moist, very flavorful, almost too sweet. I didn't get much in the way of salted caramel in the filling but it was super sweet.

Oishi Pillows Ube Filled Crackers (technically cookies): I loved these, too. Little crispy pillows filled with ube cream. Ube is a potato common in the Philippines and they use it a lot in desserts. These also kind of tasted like when you eat a sugary cereal and the milk left behind becomes sweetened and flavored by the cereal itself. Really good!

Mr. Mais Chewy Sweet Corn Candy with Butter Filling/Mr. Buko Budo Pandan Chewy Candy with Milk Filling: I forgot to take a pic of the corn candy but it looks just like the Buko one, only yellow instead of green. Same texture - starts out hard but softens as you chew. The corn candy SERIOUSLY tasted like summer corn on the cob, maybe a titch sweeter. The pandan candy was truly unique. I can't think of what it tasted like but they were pretty awesome.

TRIVIA: A. Texts! The Philippines is considered the texting capital of the world - and for good reason. Every day, 35 million Filipinos send about 450 million text messages.

That's it for May. The clue for next month makes us think Colombia might be on it's way for June. We'll find out soon enough!

Universal Yums October/November 2015

Let's take a two country tour this month, shall we? As I stated in my Morgue Drawer post, October got away from me so we're going to need to combine some monthly reviews here!

Universal Yums, for those who may not know, is a monthly subscription service that sends you snack foods from around the world! Each month is a different county. You can either sign up for the Yum Box ($13) or the Yum Yum Box ($25). Check them out for yourselves!  http://www.universalyums.com/  (I purchase this service with my own money and all reviews are my honest opinions and not bought and paid for. I'm not as shill.)

October 2015 - The Netherlands

So much good stuff...We haven't eaten all of the goodies yet. And when I say 'we' I mean 'me'. I've tried everything but the stroopwaffel wafers that you're supposed to put on top of a cup of steaming hot joe and let the heat warm up the creamy center. The Meller caramel candies taste a lot like Milk Duds but with a fudgy center. The windmill cookies were dry and rather tasteless; the coffee hopjes are excellent; the Advocat chews tasted like sweet cream (nice); two mints - King and Princess were pretty basic mints though I liked the princess ones a little better; the paprika chips were the first to go. They tasted like basic potato chips to me but not as greasy as what you normally find here. 

I'm trying the raspberry wineballs now and it seems like they have the same center as a Zot . The flavor is sour and sweet with that fizzy middle seeping out. Kinda cool. The one thing I haven't tried yet is the Licorice Balls because I believe there's salt in the center. Yep, you read that right. Salt. I'm scared...

(as I'm editing this review I'm sucking on a licorice ball. The outside is actually savory, not sweet at all. And the salt center....AAAGGGH! UGH! *cough* *sputter* Throw it in the trash...)

This seemed like an average box. I happy with most of the stuff in here!

And on to November 2015 - South Korea

WOO! Anyone who knows me knows how addicted I am to Korean Dramas and Korean culture. And now I'm getting more into K-Pop...but that's neither here nor there! Here's the box.

I've tried all but one item from this box. The Choco wafers are ok. Like those sugar wafers with the cream center you can get here. Maybe these are a little drier but the flavor is nice. The Milk Strawberry candy is great. Tastes like a strawberry milkshake! The Plum Candy is also excellent. Very good flavor. Almond Pepero is basically Pocky with chocolate and almond coating. Yummy! The soft walnut candy is fantastic! Tastes like a sweetened walnut but chewy instead of crunchy. So  good! I was really excited for the Choco Pie because I've seen it pop up in a few Korean dramas. It's basically like a moon pie but smaller (which is fine) and much drier (not fine). I was a little disappointed. I haven't had the Tiramisu Cupcake yet but it looks wonderful.

The only other thing I tried were the Peanut Squid Balls. Yes...they love their squid over in Asia and apparently peanuts and squid are a popular combination. The description calls it a 'palatable squid aftertaste' and that's about as accurate as you can be. The balls are crispy and the peanut in the center is basically a peanut. There's a soft filling surrounding the peanut but I don't know if that's where the squid taste come in or if it's in the balls (oy, this post is getting dirty). It is a very subtle after taste but I just don't get the combo here. I think it's off putting, even though it's mild. I think without the peanut it would be fine or leave out the squid and the peanut flavor is fine. Just...not together.

This was an okay box. Some of the snacks were great and others were just so so. I still love this idea of snack food from across the globe so I'm gonna stick with it for a while!