Gourmet Spotting is a monthly subscription service that’s great for you or your favorite food fiend. Gourmet goodies are delivered to you once a month, packed with interesting and delicious foods from all over the world. It’s a great way to experience new products and foods without ever leaving your house.
When you get your box and open it up, there will be a little sheet that tells you all about every product that you get. This is a great little summary with suggestions on what to do with the products, where they come from and a bit of their history.
Already I was a sucker for the green tissue paper…
For a monthly price of $29.99, you get 4-6 different products to try out. The products are hand picked and very often they are from local artisan, fair trade, or organic products for you to try.
Another fun fact? Every time a tasting box is shipped out, Gourmet Spotting donates a meal to charity. How’s that for giving back?
They aren’t sample sizes either, but full size products for you to enjoy!
This sample box had flavors from China, Italy and various states across America.
One of the first things I tried was the Tamarind Fusion granola from Granola Lab in New York. Tamarind is definitely not a typical flavor you’d ever see for a granola. These batches of granola are handmade and are of a very high quality. The flavor wasn’t my favorite (I’m not a big fan of tamarind in general) but the quality was really excellent and I’d love to check out other batches of their granola. It’s a safe bet I would have never known about the the Granola Lab otherwise!
I actually haven’t used the Heartbreaking Dawns Classic Gold Hot Sauce because I’m a little afraid of it. Not that I’ve even tried it, mind you. I just read “habanerno sauce” and I get nervous. Someday I’ll be less of a wuss and actually try it. I’m thinking… on some fried chicken…. or paired in a sauce for some fried chicken skins, like this.
I’m gonna, man. I totally am.
I used the White Truffle Oil as a compliment to a batch of crinkle cut french fries that I made. I prefer crinkle cut above all others! I also used some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and just a few splashes of the white truffle oil all over the crispy french fries. That little touch gave the fries a little extra “oomph” and earthiness that I loved so much. How have I never bought this stuff before?!
The truffle oil is very potent and can be used sparingly so I hope it lasts for quite a while. This was a great find and a prefect item for the tasting box!
The orecchiette was a no brainer for me. A package of fresh pasta? Oh, why thank you! I used that package for a simple cream and bacon sauce that did not last for very long in our house. The orecchiette was lovely and perfect with this sauce (plus lots and lots of bacon). It only has to cook for about 4 minutes, making it super easy to use as well. I should have had the foresight to use the truffle oil on this dish, but I missed that boat somehow. In any case, another totally delicious addition for the tasting box.
This Pu’er tea from Yunnan, China.
It’s a variety of post-fermented tea where the tea gets dried and rolled and then shaped into this little form. This ripened tea is often classified by year and region of production. It’s a specialty tea and is sometimes referred to as a dark tea.
This is my cup after just a minute of seeping – after a few more minutes it became very dark and looked almost like coffee! I didn’t have a tea ball or anything, so I just stuck the ball in and hoped for the best. I was afraid that it would get too bitter since I didn’t pull the tea out, but that wasn’t the case. It maintained a rich, earthy flavor that did not get bitter at all. The leaves mostly sunk to the bottom so I didn’t have to keep pulling tea leaves out of my mouth. There’s a note, too, that this tea is great as a digestif after a heavy meal.
All in all I was very pleased with the contents of the Gourmet Spotting box and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it anyone looking to try new things from all over the world. The products are high quality, full size, and would be great for any kitchen or as a gift for a friend or loved one. I may just need to jump on this bandwagon myself and start getting these boxes monthly just to see what other goodies these guys come up with!
* Disclaimer: I received a complimentary box of Gourmet Spotting goods for review. I was not compensated for the review itself and all opinions are my own.
Crinkle french fries are my favorite too! It’s the only reason I go to Del Taco if I need it right away. This reminds me of Birchbox but do they customize the box based on your interests or is the selection standard across the board?
Every time I tell Jake I like crinkle cut he mentions Del Taco, haha (though I haven’t had their fries). This is sort of like Birchbox, but with food products. It’s standard selection right now, but I believe they are working on making it so that if you have allergies or other restrictions, you can specify so you don’t get things you can’t actually eat.