Flavrbox for August

Another month, another wonderful box from my friends at Flavrbox. I really do look forward to new boxes each month and continuing to recommend them, I'm also pretty thankful for how much they've made me stand up and take notice of more independent brands in the last year and a bit.

I've definitely noticed a change in my food shopping habits, I now prefer getting fruit and veg from greengrocers, farm shops and markets now over the supermarket, there's so much more to see, which is funny considering the nearest supermarket to us is the size of an air hanger...





[Raspberry Coulis, Best of Taste Co.]
I really am not sure what to make of this, I think I liked it but only in so much that I liked it as a coulis and I don't really like coulis. My biggest appreciation for this was the great recipe for white chocolate cheesecake that it came with - and went very well with too. Sorry for the sloppy splodges but we weren't really sure want to do with it. I think if you love the tartness that raspberries can have sometimes and you like fancy dessert sauces you're going to like it because it was nice, it's just not really for me.


[Magic BBQ Dust Rub, Best of Taste Co.]
This is probably this month's little let down. We gave it a go with burgers and I must admit that it didn't add the amount of flavour to the meat that I was expecting. After my GBB winnings, maybe I'm a bit of a 'rub snob' but this didn't really do it for me. It was accompanied by some great ways to use it other than as a rub though, which I was pretty impressed by and given that I'm pretty overloaded with rubs now, that little card is sure to come in handy.


[Madagasgar Vanilla Fudge, Yum Yum Tree Fudge]
You can never go wrong with fudge. As we had it when the weather was so warm, I left it in the fridge and was a little worried it would ruin it, but it was still creamy and delicious, perfect for picking at every now and then.


[Italian Herb Peanuts & Hazelnuts // Zanzibar Nuts & Seads, Mr Filbert's Inventive Snacks]
These were great for snacks at work although my eyes did pop out of my head when I saw the calorie content. The Zanzibar Nuts & Seeds were really interesting with an orangey/gingery overtone, I think I liked them best out of the two.


[Sweet Chilli Jam, Eddie's Chilli Jam]
I remember trying a few of these when I went to Taste of London a couple of months ago, my favourite was their scotch bonnet one, but this one is pretty great too, perfect on crackers with strong cheddar. I'm always fascinated by the different kinds of jam people can make.


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Flavrbox for July.

WOWOWOWOW! This is my favourite Flavrbox in ages. Such generously-sized items and such great items at that, I'm not sure what more I can say. I've come away with a lot exciting finds in this month's box, admittedly there is one item I didn't try but that's simply because it's come to the time of year not perhaps when, it's too warm to eat (I can always eat), but it's not quite the right time for the kind of food it would be served with. There's really not that much criticism that I can find, I can't wait to try the item I missed once summer comes to an end, without meaning to wish the year away, of course!




[Blood Tonic Cordial, Mr Fitzpatricks – RRP: £4.25]
We are loving cordials in the little flat right now - not quite juice and little bit more special than everyday squash. We just picked up a couple of bottles of Belvoir Elderflower Cordial to go towards MoneySupermarket's upcoming barbecue challenge, but this Blood Tonic Cordial is really something special - without wishing to undersell it, to me it tastes like what can only be described as mixture of (old-school) Tizer and children's medicine but that's it's main selling point. It's so tasty, a little sweet to have all the time but a great pick me up. Flavrbox recommended to have it with sparkling water but I definitely prefer to treat myself and have it with lemonade instead. I just really wish I fully understood what it actually is.



[Split Dried Fava Beans, Hodmedod's – RRP: £1.90]
This is the item that I didn't get around to trying this month. I've found it's been far too warm for any of our usual go-to one-pot dishes and we've mainly stuck to salady things. I think they're going to be great in one of Moon's signature curries though and I can't wait to try them.


[Salt Selection Box, Devonshire Gourmet Salts – RRP: £6.00]
I really liked these, I do however have one criticism, I reckon they ought to have packaged these a little better. Unfortunately one of the packages arrived split with salt rattling in the overall box they came in, which is a bit of a shame. I just figured that as the amount provided was so generous and they're such nice products the packaging was just a little bit of a let down. My favourite was the smoked sea salt, and they've been pretty nice for all the tomatoes we've been going through, it's going to be exciting to have them with our home-grown ones.
Any tips on what to actually use them with would be much appreciated.


[Passionfruit Gourmet Marshmallows Little Delicious – RRP: £3.50]
This is about the third lot of marshmallows I've received in a Flavrbox and I have to say that these have been the best. They were full of flavour without being overpowering and they were really light - they actually weren't all that much like marshmallows at all, but they certainly were tasty. Having read Little Delicious' back-story, I'd actually love to give homemade marshmallows a try, I doubt I could top these beauties but I'd give it a shot (stay tuned for a #pinterestfail).



[Chilli & Garlic // Balsamic Vinegar & Sea Salt Pitta Chips, Soffle's – RRP: £3.00]
These are a great idea and after we were talking about how neat they were at work too. I started making homemade nachos a little while ago with the help of Innocent's HUNGRY, and was going to give pitta chips a try next, then these arrived and gave me a whole heap of other ideas. They were a lot different from what I was expecting but I really liked them. I think I prefered the Balsamic Vinegar & Sea Salt ones as they seemed to have absorbed the flavour a little better and the Chilli & Garlic ones were a little dry - I'd definitely get some dip for them if I were trying them again. How great is the packaging though? - definitely my favourite this month, so simple but really eye-catching and so cute. ♥


The brochures are getting fancier and fancier every month!
My favourite this month has definitely been the Mr Fitzpatricks' Blood Tonic Cordial, with the sea salt, purely based on presentation, being my least favourite, but I pretty much like everything, it was definitely the right box for me.

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Have you give Flavrbox a go yet? If so, what did you think?

TASTE.

As I mentioned in my last Flavrbox review, I was lucky enough to win tickets to head over to Taste of London in Regent's Park on Friday. Not only did it let me have a pretty nice, long weekend, but generally it was a pretty nice day out all in all and I had a great time.

Neither myself or my Gran expected that we would be able to spend a full four hours at a food festival, but we did, it was actually really easy to get sucked into the realm of free samples and there was a little more to it than we had thought. My Gran got to make dim sum with Ping Pong, we saw Michel Roux Jr totally slumming it at his restaurant's stall and I got to try so many different kinds of cheese!




I don't think I've ever been to Regent's Park before and there sure were a fair few pretty flowers in bloom, it's just a shame that the late warm whether has meant there's still so much yet to come out.





Ping Pong's Dim Sum masterclass.




Some seriously exciting freebies!


There was a huge Thai section, with all kinds of fancy food and exotic fruit as well as some traditional Thai displays.




Amazing Fruit-Artist.


Tasty Tempura.





It was pretty funny how my Gran was all about the freebies, especially the ones that didn't have a queue. Pretty sure just before she got this she was telling how much she didn't really like frozen yoghurt...



Rolled pizza giveaway!



Display from Duck & Waffle, including an ox-cheek donut.





After making a concerted effort to actually find somewhere to eat rather than graze on samples, we ended up with a steak sandwich and a beer from Santa Maria del Sur. The steak was traditional Argentinian steak and the sauce was really good, Argentinian food isn't something I've thought about before but will definitely be on the look-out for from now on, especially since there seemed to be so much Argentinian cuisine on offer and London isn't somewhere that has a shortage of places to choose from either.


The Producers Market was awesome, definitely the hub of all the free samples - I tried mint chocolate-flavoured tonic water, about 5 different types of olive oil and this is where I consumed the majority of the cheese I tried that day.


Just a bottle of £16.50 balsamic vinegar...





Very encouraged by Joe & Seph's Cheese on Toast Popcorn, definitely want to try more of their range now.


A chocolatier who works for Lindt and was trained by a Lindt Master Chocolatier but is not a Lindt Master Chocolatier...




I must admit that I'm unsure of the usual £28 price tag being worth it given that you also have to put more money towards 'crowns' - the official currency of Taste of London - in order to get some real food, and given that the 'real food' on offer was more of a taster menu than regular-sized portions, there is a part of me that feels it was a little stingy.

However, as a prize, it was pretty top notch and for the atmosphere and something completely out of the ordinary, I'm totally happy to have gone and would still recommend it. Unfortunately we weren't able to take part in any wine tasting or big cook offs because they were all fully-booked, they're definitely things I'd check out first if I went again, I've never been wine tasting before but it sure sounds like fun.

I've made a full set on Flickr, but if you've been reading for a while, you probably know that I'm pretty bad at editing down images as it is so it's pretty similar to what you see here.

Have you ever been to a food festival? What did you think - Taste of London totally has me thinking a little bit about Jamie Oliver & Alex James' Big Feastival at the end of August.