Thursday, 4 August 2016

July's Degustabox - review


Just in time for the school holidays, this month's Degustabox has arrived. Even before we'd pulled everything out of the box, there were squeals of excitement from behind me !


This month's box appears to have a summery theme and it's just the way I like it - a good mix of well-known brands and products, along with some wildcards that I'd never heard of. It's a bit of a "naughty or nice" box too, with healthy or not so healthy snack options to choose from.

So, without further ado, here's what was in this month's box :


Felix Swedish Pickled Gherkins (£2.15) - Sweet pickled crunchy gherkins, handpicked in Sweden in late summer when they are at their best, and prepared using a traditional recipe with vinegar, salt and spices. They taste great in burgers, salads and sandwiches or just plucked straight from the jar every time you open the fridge - yum !

Jordans Swiss Style Muesli (£2.79) - From Sweden to Switzerland ! Jordans' take on the classic Swiss muesli - a light blend of crispy wheat flakes, creamy oats, juicy raisins and finely sliced almonds, with no added sugar. It's nice enough but I found it to be a bit bland compared to their Country Crisp and granola, which I love.


Alo Original Exposed Aloe Vera & Honey drink (£2.45) - If you look closely, you can see that this surprising drink has a cloudy, slightly gloopy-looking texture from the aloe vera pulp, which looks strange but is actually quite pleasant to drink. It is non-GMO, gluten-free and fat-free, and only uses real aloe vera juice and pulp harvested straight from the leaf, not from powder. Aloe vera is supposed to be packed with goodness. I wasn't overly keen on the honey taste but I'd be interested in checking out the other flavours available. It's expensive for a soft drink though.


There were lots of drinks in this month's box, but as a blogger, I got to sample all off the products that went into the different Degustaboxes, so subscribers may not have received so many in their boxes.

Berrywhite Organic Sparkling Lemon & Ginger and Sparkling Cranberry & Guava - I do like to treat myself to a sophisticated, grown-up soft drink on a hot day and these are both very refreshing.

QCumber Sparkling - I reviewed QCumber a little while ago (click through to read my review) and was surprised by how delicious a blend of sparkling spring water and cucumber could be. I know what you're thinking but try it - you'll be surprised !

Rejuvenation Water (£1.99) - We got Spanish Orange but there are other flavours available. It's an amino acid-enriched spring water, specifically designed to deal with the rigours of modern life to fuel the immune system, build a natural resilience to stress, depression and anxiety and aid protein digestion. It's a refreshing, tasty drink but I'd be put off by the price.

Cracker Drinks Pineapple, Coconut & Lime Fruit Juice Drink (£1.50) - I love the blend of flavours, with the sweetness of pineapple undercut by a zing of lime and the added coconut making me feel like I'm drinking a Malibu cocktail ! The drinks contain no added sugar or artificial sweeteners and are about 30% lower in calories than most juice drinks. Each serving contains 90 calories and represents one of your 5 a day, which is always good news.


Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles Infusions (£1.29) - A twist on regular Fruit Pastilles (one of my favourite sweets), made with fruit juice and featuring three infusions : orange & grapefruit, raspberry & pomegranate and apple & elderflower. They're very nice but to be honest, I couldn't taste much difference compared to the normal ones !

Brookside Açai & Blueberry Dark Chocolate (£3.40) - I usually prefer milk chocolate so I wasn't sure what we'd think of these, but they're actually very tasty. The fruity filling is delicious.


Itsu Crispy Seaweed Thins (2 x £1) -  Edible seaweed is an Asian delicacy, heralded as the new vegetable crisp. The green superfood is naturally packed with nutrients, zinc, iron & B vitamins and it is a great source of iodine, a nutrient missing in most other foods, critically important in regulating hormones. As a snack, I wasn't keen but they could be added to dishes such as paella or fish stews or sprinkled onto salads.

Bahlsen Choco Leibniz (4 x 40p) - These are delicious, very indulgent and very chocolatey. You can see our review here. We often buy them but I didn't know they were available in single serve packs, which will be great as snacks on the go for the kids.

Seabrooks Crisps Lattice Food Heroes Chorizo Flavour (£1.99) - Seabrooks Crisps have joined forces with the best of British to champion artisanal producers, such as Three Little Pigs chorizo or Akbar's chicken jalfrezi. It's a lovely way to introduce some of the smaller, less well-known producers to a new public and the crisps have a lovely rich chorizo flavour. We all loved the lattice cut of the crisps too.


Sarson's Balsamic Vinegar (£1.99) - Balsamic vinegar is quite well known now, but if you've yet to try it, it has a mellower taste and smell than chip shop vinegar. It can be drizzled over salads or, believe it or not, strawberries, and also used as an ingredient in recipes. I recently made an exotic South African dish called Beef & Apricot Sosaties, which is a surprisingly delicious mix of apricot jam, apricot juice, balsamic vinegar and curry powder, with beef or lamb and dried apricots.


This month's recipe is more of a serving suggestion, with different ways of using the seaweed thins in sandwiches.

A subscription to Degustabox costs £12.99 per month including delivery, with each box having a value of much more than that, but the great news is, I have a discount coupon code for you which gives you a whopping £6 off the price of your first box - just enter code BLDEG15 at the checkout - making it great value and a fab way to discover new products.

for more information :

Also now on Instagram @DegustaboxUK 

Disclosure : We received the box in order to write an honest review.

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