Universal Yums is a international snack box gift box or subscription service. You have a choice of a few different size boxes.
They all come with snacks and a booklet with games, trivia and a recipe.
This month the snacks are from Spain. My expectations were pretty high because Spain is well known for having amazing foods and astonishing canned fish. (I was hoping for some really great canned fish)
I got a squashed cake. The cake is soft and the filling is very paste-tee……
Next are spicy mango gummies. They smell sort of like mango. They are not spicy. Not a favorite. It’s like gummy whipped taffy with a weird flavor.
These smell awful. They smell just like when you walk by an old fryer with old oil. They are suppose to be bacon and cheese flavored bugle shaped corn snacks. But they don’t have bacon or any cheese in them. Won’t get fat eating these….
This month I got a Yum Bag….Usually we get a Yum Bag but last month I didn’t. the top candies are Spanish Chocolate Toffee. They are soft like Tootsie Rolls…After a few chews all the chocolate flavor disappears and it’s like edible plastic. The pistachio candies on the lower end of the Yum bag are suppose to be soft and rich?….I think I got defective candies because mine are hard and are strong enough to pull my teeth out. It taste like the flavor is sprayed on. After about a second you don’t need the candy anymore.
Next are little sugar coated caramels……..They taste good but do have a slightly artificial finish……
Last snack
Lemon pepper potato chips……They smell like normal potato chips…..They are nice and crisp in texture. For me they are too acidic….I can’t eat them but my husband can…Bah they were almost good with a nice potato flavor.
Those were my thoughts on Universal Yums Spain 2021 Your opinion may differ!
I picked up this bag of Lay’s Whacky Hot ‘N’ Sweet Chili (spelled Chilli on bag) Potato Chips from the Asiana Market in Deer Valley Phoenix Arizona. This bag is from India so it is not a flavor that you will find everywhere. I like Chili and Sweet can be ok so I decided to give this bag a try. It’s a very small bag with very little in it.
The bag only weighs 2 ounces.
The ingredients look pretty good for flavored potato chips.
I’m so glad that the potato chips main ingredient is potato and they used edible vegetable oil instead of inedible vegetable oil.
I open the bag and sniff them.
They smell really odd. Something like tahini mixed with a frozen pizza.
The chips are smaller in size with ridges and do have a powdery surface.
I get scared to taste them.
I taste one….
It’s very spicy but not too spicy and it is sweet.
They are more savory than sweet with a tiny bit of onion and garlic an also an odd taste in the background.
You get the odd taste more near the
bottom of the bag.
It’s something like soy sauce.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Whacky ‘N’ Sweet Chilli Potato Chips.
Universal Yums is a gift or subscription service for a box of international snacks.
You have three choices of size boxes.
Besides snacks your box comes with a booklet that includes some facts, trivia and a recipe.
I don’t know why but my box is marked reject.
That’s just dandy. WHATEVER
Lets try our first snack.
It’s puffed rice with a thin coat of waxy chocolate. It’s much lighter in texture than the Asian puffed rice bars. I think it might have ground rice powder in it with the texture of almost angel cake holding it together. I like the center of this bar with the ultra light texture. It ALMOST seems like the rice is suspended in angel cake but it isn’t…just taste that way.
Next
They smell tangy……They taste better than they smell…..Sort of like a ketchup taste…..Not awful (“PHEW”) but not something that I would buy.
Next we try the onion rings.
They smell just like onion powder. They have the same texture as softer lighter cheese curls but don’t taste like cheese curls. They taste onion flavored. Light oniony rings…they are ok.
Now we will go for something sweet.
Here are cinnamon almond cream wafers.
They are cinnamon-ee…kinda almond-ee………They remind me of other wafer snacks from all over the world. I think every country out there makes some sort of wafer snack.
Here is premium white chocolate with strawberry rhubarb crumble. I think this is pretty good. It taste like lots of strawberry in a cream……maybe the sour finish is the rhubarb? I think that this was the best of the box.
I saved this for last because I’m not a big fan of marzipan.
Well it’s a stick of marzipan. It’s covered in dark chocolate that isn’t too bad.
I found some different foreign snacks from Asiana Market in the Deer Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Here are Surati Cheddar Jalapeño flavored potato tubes. I found them in the India aisle but this snack is from Canada.
The front of the bag is marked suitable for vegetarians.
The ingredients are a mix of mostly natural and some chemical.
I open the bag and take a sniff.
It smells sort of cheesy and I do also smell chili powder.
I spill some out.
They are shaped sort of like French Fries but with. slightly hollow centers. They are dusted with seasonings.
I taste one.
It’s very spicy but it doesn’t burn with a natural cheesy flavor. It’s actually very tasty but the texture is unlike anything I ever tried before. It’s ultra light and airy. It’s so darn light and airy it would be easy to woof down this 3 1/2 ounce bag.
Universal Yums sells snacks from around the world. You can either subscribe or gift in a variety ways and different available sizes.
I get the basic Yum Box. These days it is 5-7 snacks and runs around $16. a month. My box includes a 12 page booklet with fun facts, a recipe and some games.
The first treat we try are the wasabi spicy potato strips.
They taste like they could be made by Pringles but in a long thin strip and wasabi flavored…Ummmm not bad. I’m surprised that they aren’t all busted up. Not bad..I’d buy them once in a while.
Next we try the baked Milk and Dark Chocolate Bar.
It’s a lot of wafers surrounded by a dark chocolaty wax coating. Not awful….but also not great…..I think mine is an off batch…I have next to zero filling between the wafers. It’s kind of dry. Oh well what’s next?
Next we open the Yum Bag. we try a juice filled Ukrainian mixed fruit jelly (yellow wrapper)……It’s weird….Not sure what it taste like….It’s coated with cornstarch and my mouth full of cornstarch…but is more jelly fruity and wet than corn starch…..It’s weird to me.
A day later I tried the other candy in the Yum Bag.
WOW! This candy is even weirder than the last candy. It’s really soft caramel with a strawberry fruit center that doesn’t taste like much. My husband found this candy less weird. He also agreed that you barely taste the strawberry and it’s mostly just a soft caramel…….I would never eat this again.
This is suppose to be a sweeter condensed milk cream cake. I don’t think mine wasn’t made right. It’s very dry and not sweet…I think it taste like it was made with saw dust………YUK! Neither me or my husband could stomach this one.
My bread chips arrived mostly busted up. I go to taste one…..Not much on garlic taste….Mine taste like dry wheat bread mixed with wood pulp and they are very dry…..
I hope next month is better or I will have to cancel my membership.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Ukraine Universal Yums
Universal Yums is an International snacks site ( www.UniversalYums.com ). You have many options and can subscribe to a once a month box if you like. The International snack boxes come in three different sizes. The basic Yum Box comes with 6 international snacks and a twelve page booklet of games, trivia and a recipe and runs around $16. a month.
The next size up is the Yum Yum Box of twelve snacks and more and is around $25. a month and the largest box is called the Super Yum Box of 20 snacks and cost around $40. a month.
I’m not a fan of gummy candy so I let my husband try the gummy candies for me.
These licorice and fruit dummies came from Amsterdam. My husband didn’t like them but said the next bag was even worst.
Oh they look cute….gummy Dutch candy cars in cherry, strawberry and black current. These had a rubbery texture and weren’t good to my husband.
I try the Yum Bag…
I try a ball first.
Dutch Sour Violet Balls…..Oh no wonder why it didn’t taste like food….(ick)
I kind of knew I wouldn’t like the Dutch sour watermelon candies but I did try….
GOD they are gross……….kinda like bubble gum mixed with watermelon and something painfully sour.
I’m beginning to think that this is the worst box ever.
We try again anyway.
Here are Dutch Aged Gouda Cheese Crispies.
Now these taste really rich and good. They have a really great buttery cheese flavor. Unfortunately they have a gross waxy finish in the mouth.
Here are thick cut bio-organic hand cooked cheese onion potato chips……Mine seem very thin and not thick cut but they are nice and crisp. I don’t get much cheese or onion taste to them…..they are just crisp little chips. Not bad…chips…they are ok.
I tried this and latter found out that I didn’t eat it correctly….WHO KNEW! that you could eat a cookie incorrectly?
Anywho-
Me and my husband tried them…(incorrectly) We took bites out of them and they weren’t good to us. I thought it was like a sweet gummy cooked into a thin waffle shaped cookie.
You are suppose to eat these cookies over a mug of a hot liquid. The hot liquid I guess makes them gooier …(ick!)
Here are multi-chocolate covered mini spice cookies. I’m not a big fan of spice cookies but I guess this might be the best of the bunch.
Netherlands wasn’t my favorite Yum Box.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Netherlands
www.UniversialYums.com
Your opinion and experience with the same may indeed differ.
Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips have been out for a while now but I finally got up the nerve to try them. About a year ago I tried several different flavors of Lay’s potato chips that just didn’t do it for me so I gave up trying new flavors until recently.
These Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips smell just like a jar of dill pickle!
I got to look at the ingredients.
They have a few ingredients that are unexpected like whey and sour cream…..???? Why whey and sour cream? They don’t go into spicy dill pickles!
Here are the chips up close.
The chips are smaller in size and are a little powdery.
I taste one. It’s almost too hot and *****IS*****too vinegary for me.
My husband loves them and is woofing them down.
The chips for me are painful to eat slow.
If I eat them faster they don’t hurt my mouth and they really do taste like spicy dill pickles.
Pretty good and worth a try! …Just don’t eat them slow.
I’ve subscribed to Universal Yums at www.UniversalYums.com . It’s a subscription service where you can subscribe or gift international boxes of snacks in a number of ways. Some of the basic offerings are a Yum Box. The Yum Box is six snacks, comes with a small booklet with, fun facts, trivia, a recipe and more and runs around $15.00 that includes shipping.
Fun facts and RecipeTrivia
The larger offerings are the Yum Yum Box. All that above plus more and double the snacks for around $25.00.
The biggest offering is called The Super Yum Box. You get the above plus more and 20 snacks for around $40.00.
I let my husband pick out the first snack. He picked crisp almond cookies called Amarettini.
The cookies are very tiny and very crispy and are extremely almond forward. I think they are very good and the little bag is filled with more cookies than I imagined. This one is very good. I hope we didn’t eat the best one first again.
My husband picks the next one. It’s some sort of carrot/orange snack cake. Now this one I expected to hate because I’m not a big fan of carrot cake or most packaged snack cakes.
This is a first…….It’s surprisingly good and seems fresh. I don’t get the carrot. The cake is just moist. The cream is laced with orange and isn’t too sweet. I can eat this…It’s good.
Next we went to the Yum Bag and tried the Lemon Fizzy Soda Candy at the top of the picture.
OMG this isn’t sweet. It’s so tangy it is painful to my mouth. My husband just munched his down and said, not very fizzy or good. I painfully let mine dissolve thinking that it might get better. Mine didn’t get fizzy either and stayed painful till the last few moments. I would not try this one again.
Artificially ketchup potato chips….???????
I open the bag and they smell like ketchup….They do have the taste of ketchup but a little sweeter and also too tangy….my mouth is very sensitive and the chemicals in the chips burn my mouth…..Doesn’t bother my husband though.
I wanted to save this for last but we didn’t.
Novi chocolate hazelnut bar. This chocolate bar just melts in your mouth. It’s creamy milk chocolate that is full of flavor and even the hazelnuts are full of hazelnut flavor. I wish I had another one of these bars in my box. This one was really good.
Truffle potato chips.
I open the bag and get a slight truffle aroma. The chips are very small and are light and crisp. They do have a pleasant truffle kind of taste to them that lingers in the mouth a bit. Another very good.
Here are tarallini. They are little tasty lemon and black pepper laced micro mini bagel shaped crackers. These are very tasty. I could use another bag of these too.
Now I’m trying my last treat.
It’s a round chocolate ball that is called Tiramisu. I usually don’t like that dessert made with ladies fingers, espresso, cream and rum…..Well I will give this a try.
Ummm I get the espresso right away but it’s not too strong and quickly turns to a rich milk chocolate taste that explodes into my mouth. It’s seems very rich but also is very satisfying….Wow I like it!
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Italy
I’ve subscribed to www.UniversalYums.com . It’s a subscription service that sends you an international box of snacks once a month. They offer three different size boxes.
Small (called a Yum Box)- 6 snacks, a 12 page activity booklet with a recipe) around $15.00
Medium (called a Yum Yum Box) 12 snacks, activity book & more around $25.00
Large ( called Super Yum Box) 20 snacks, activity book & more around $40.00
So far I’m just doing the basic 6 snack Yum Box.
I open the box and wonder what I’ll get?
I look at the first few pages of the activity booklet first.
I read a little about Russia. I see a recipe for beef stroganoff. Turn the page and I see some fun facts.
The box also comes with a scorecard so I can jot down my thoughts.
I should have read the next page before we started the tastings because they recommended to do the tastings in a certain order. I accidentally tasted the best one first. I picked it because it was a smaller treat and I wanted to start with something small.
We start by sharing one of the snacks.
I’m not sure what it is called but it is a wafer bar with cocoa, hazelnuts and peanuts.
WOW! It’s all melty like REAL chocolate.
Gosh this is delicious. I never tasted a wafer bar with such a delicious coating. No wax here! This is really good. It’s not even like a candy bar. It’s more like the chocolate ganache coating from a pastry shop. American candy bars are very inferior compared to this…….Even the wafers and fillings are good. WOW! I sure wouldn’t mind more of these.
Here is the next one we tried.
I have no idea what the package says but this is a pack of two white chocolate and hazelnut filled wafer bars.
The wafer bars are crisp and the filling is unusually good. More like something from a bakery and not from a shelf. No waxy feeling at all. No chemical taste. It’s rich with the right amount of buttery sweetness. I just wish the hazelnut flavor popped a little more but this is still really good.
We only wanted a little bit of sweet so we opened the Yum Bag.
I wonder what is inside?
Looks like fruity gummies and something more interesting with coconut and hazelnuts. I go for the more interesting.
It’s like a wafer bon bon. It’s a white chocolate coating mixed with shredded coconut that coats a wafer shell filled with extra sweet frosting that has a hazelnut center. This one its slightly waxy and slightly too sweet. Not my favorite.
Here’s the next one.
I was suppose to try this one first. It’s some sort of coated milk cake.
This one lacks sweetness and also lacks a good flavor. It is flavored with something I can’t identify. This its my least favorite so far.
Ok next was mushroom croutons.
They smell sort of odd. They are light, airy and crisp in texture. They taste better than they smell. some of them actually taste like mushroom base. (base the stuff you add to soup if you didn’t make a stock) some of them have more flavor and salt than others in my package. For me some of them run a little salt forward but they really do taste like mushroom. Not bad!
Next.
These are suppose to be Swiss cheese flavored potato chips.
They smell sort of buttery. They have a powdery exterior and are very thin but in my package the chips are not very crisp. At first I can almost imagine a Swiss cheese flavor but that quickly turns to an artificial margarine type flavor. I really don’t like these chips.
These were the gummies from the yum bag. They might be good but I don’t like gummy candy so I made my husband try them. He thought one did taste like lemon or something citrusy but he couldn’t identify the other one.
The last one.
It looks good……..????
I go to taste….The chocolate is extra milky and the filling is more like jelly than the creamy look it has on the wrapper.
You know I can sure go for another one of these………..The was the wafer with cocoa, hazelnuts and peanuts.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums from Russia.
I can’t wait to try what I get next month!
www.UniversalYums.com
Everything is subject to change and your experience and opinion may indeed differ.
I picked up these Lay’s Italian Red Meat Flavor Potato Chips at an Asian Market so I thought I’d give them a try. The bag is small and is less than 1 1/2 ounces.
Here’s what the back looks like.
Here are the ingredients. It reads like it might be free of meat.
It also reads Italian braise flavor?
Whatever-
I open it up and take a whiff.
This one smells.
It smells like a combination of fried pastries and burnt tomato sauce.
I’m afraid to try them now.
Oh no here they come.
They are powdery and greasy and have an orange complexion.
I go to taste one.
It’s not horrible…….but it’s not good………It sort of taste like it smells…..Sort of like burnt tomato sauce but sweetened…….
I’m not a fan of this flavor
I note that your opinion and experience may indeed differ…
