Snacks From France

Ever wondered what food from around the world would taste like? What about snack food? A company called Universal Yums asked the same question while putting together their subscription boxes. This month’s box was from France – and those in Newspaper got to try and review this trip to Europe in food form.
The box came with several items, each with their own reviews: Apricot and Vanilla Cookies, Le Mere Poulard, Butter Cookies, Almond Cookies, Cémoi Sea Salted Dark Chocolates, Creme Brulee Toffees, Gaufrettes Apéritives, Saveurs, Mini Strawberry Bon Bons, Sweet Chili Chips, Cheesy Corn Snacks, Framboise Raspberry Macarons, and Dark Chocolate Cookies.
The Apricot and Vanilla Cookies are hollow, crunchy hard cookies with a tan base and circular white disk on top. They were hollow and felt hard, like they might stab the roof of your mouth, but melted instead. They seemed to be either hit or miss, some describing them as “disappointing,” while others ranked them highly. Their description cited them as “light and crispy traditional French macaroons with natural sweet apricot flavor and a hint of bourbon vanilla.”
The Le Mere Poulard, which are more commonly known in English as butter cookies, are light and layered tan cookies with the numbers ‘1888’ printed on the surface, which was when they were first made. These cookies had “less flavor than the others”, but were still “a good blend of buttery and sweet.” Overall, not great, but not bad either. The box described them as “delicious and good luck biscuits prepared with pure butter and free-range eggs, made using only the finest products from France.”
This French-roasted garlic goodness will make anyone say, “Holy aioli!” (Except vampires. Maybe.)
The Cémoi Sea Salted Dark Chocolate is a bar of solid dark chocolate with sea salt speckled in it and lines on every square. They were described as either hit or miss, just like the Apricot Cookies, but they also had some interesting reviews. Even though some people reviewing did not like dark chocolate, they said that these were quite good because the salt brought it all together in the end. The box described them as “rich, decadent dark chocolate with just a hint of salt that is simply delicious.”
The Crème Brûlée Toffees are caramel-brown colored ovals with a small circle on either side in the middle. They were apparently great, given the descriptions: including one describing it as “a creamy, semi-salty nugget of flavor.” They went on to say that it has “an initial taste [of] creamy and sweet, [with] a creme brulee opening, but once it is sucked on for a minute or two, the toffee really shines through. The starting sweet flavor really complements the second, salty taste.” They even finished saying that “this little sweet proves that good things can, in fact, come in small packages.” However, those who did not like the Dark Chocolates with Sea Salt did not like this either. The box described the bar as “all of the deliciously creamy caramel goodness of creme brulee with no blowtorch required!”
The Gaufrettes Apéritives, which could best be described as black pepper and rosemary potato chips in English, just look like regular potato chips. Despite that, they were surprising; one person wrote “the thought of a potato chip with black pepper doesn’t seem like it would work, but it did.” Besides that, a slightly hot aftertaste was described. The box said “Rosemary is a sign of luck in Czech tradition. Munch on these herbal chips, and we think you’ll get it.”
The Saveurs, also called Garlic Aioli Potato Chips, were not received the best. Although most said that once the taste evened out they were good, they were just extremely garlicky, to the point where even most garlic lovers thought the taste was too strong. The box said “this French-roasted garlic goodness will make anyone say, “Holy aioli!” (Except vampires. Maybe.)”
The Mini Strawberry Bon Bons, unlike the Garlic Aioli chips, were a favorite. These chewy pink candies are not only good, they even have an American counterpart; a hard candy, with each piece packaged like a strawberry (bright green top with a square bottom and seeds on the red part). The hard candies taste exactly the same as their french counterparts, but the chew does really add an extra element to the candy. Reviews for this one were up across the board; no criticisms at all. One person described them well, saying, “these french delights are pink with a chewy texture tasting like strawberry, though they have a hint of cherry flavoring in them.” The box pegs these candies as “juiciness that just won’t quit.” These candies are definitely worth a try.
The Sweet Chili Chips were fluffed up, airy disks with, you guessed it, sweet chili spices. Surprisingly, they were better than most would think; the sweet chili spices were mild and spare enough to be good for even those who do not usually like sweet chili spiced items. Overall, the reviews were good, including “these fluffed up chips have a good amount of spice, but not an overwhelming amount – a good medium.” The box described them as “sweet and spicy salty crisps” that “will transport you to the straight coast of Brittany.”
The Sibel Cheesy Corn Chips are just as they sound. They are corn chips, however, as one person put it, “they taste very different from American cheese flavored products, more like authentic cheese and modeled after a different cheese than the cheddar usually found here.” Besides that, another wrote that they were “very flavorful,” but “tasted like every other corn chip.”
The Framboise Raspberry Macaron Chocolates are lumps of chocolate with crushed up Framboise Raspberry Macarons in them. They were described as a very light and nice powdery snack, and were liked by most that tried them. The box describes them as “crispy raspberry macaron bits [inside creamy] truffle [make this snack] very, very French. And very, very, very delicious!”
The Dark Chocolate Cookies are just as they sound; dark, chocolate-y cookies. Be warned, however, as one person put it, “these french cookies have the rich dark chocolate flavor that so many enjoy, but those who do not like dark chocolate will find this delicacy very bitter.” The box described them as “a classic buttery shortbread cookie with a cocoa-y twist for all our chocolate lovers.”
Overall, the favorite treats were, in order, the Mini Strawberry Bon Bons, the Apricot and Vanilla Cookies, and the Framboise Raspberry Macarons. This box, containing candies that flew from across the world all the way here, was truly delectable, and a fun experience, too; if at all possible, it is a purchase well worth making.