Universal Yums is a snack subscription box that sends out snacks and candies from a different country each month. Choose from the Yum Box for $15 a month, the Yum Yum Box for $25 a month, or the Super Yum Box for $39 a month.
This review is of the Yum Yum box, which is $25 a month.
This month’s box takes us to Egypt! Let's dive in and discover this month's Yums!
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Universal Yums
The Subscription Box: Universal Yums
The cost: $25 a month + free US shipping
The Products: The contents of the boxes change each month as they highlight the best snacks from each featured country. However, you can always expect a mix of flavors: salty, sweet, spicy, fruity, and more. Only authentic snacks from the featured country.
Ships to: The U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and Israel
Universal Yums “Egypt” August 2020 Review
Universal Yums is always a box we look forward to, and this month was a little extra special for my family and me. Last week, my grandma passed away, and as my next door neighbor and best friend, it has been truly distressing on our family. My dad came over to visit today, and this box was sitting on our table. My boys begged grandpa to taste test this box with us, and we came to realize the last trip my grandma took was to Egypt in 2005! Coincidence? I think not! What did my picky dad think of this month's treats? Let's find out!
Each month we receive a brightly animated map detailing the country our Yums are coming from. Our map of Egypt was wonderfully illustrated and contained facts and trivia about the country. On the opposing side, we have the "Yum Scoreboard" which includes a list of all of the boxes contents and an area for you to rate them. Not only is this a scorecard, but it also lists snacks that were rejected from the box, along with the chance to vote on an upcoming box. I am totally voting for Mongolia!
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Here we have the detailed pamphlet that includes tons of information about Egypt itself and the treats they sent this month. I love reading the history info and doing the trivia with my boys! This month we learned that 90% of Egypt is desert and that the workers who built the pyramids were given daily rations of beer! I really enjoy the summaries they write for each individual snack, the history, and the fun facts. It makes this into an entire experience! The back includes items they sell in the Yum Shop, but again, no spoilers. You have to follow them on Instagram or Facebook for a clue...
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Chocolate Wave Hazelnut
Who can resist a chocolate-covered wafer with hazelnut cream?! I know I sure can't! This tasty treat had layers of wafer with a perfect amount of hazelnut cream that is then dipped in milk chocolate. I find this combination most delectable! While being incredibly tasty, it reminded me a lot of a Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolate, but without the whole hazelnut inside (which happens to be my favorite part!) Both of my kids enjoyed this treat, and my dad gave it two thumbs up as well! A great start to our journey through Egypt!
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Tiger Chili and Lemon Chips
I sort of have a love/hate relationship with lemon, and the sound of it in potato chips had me raising my eyebrow, but I gotta say I'm impressed! These chili and lemon rippled potato chips have a nice crunch like a traditional chip. The flavor starts out with a bright lemony zip and then turns into a spicy kick. I can honestly say I haven't had a chip that tastes like this before, and I loved it! It almost reminds me of a spicy salt and vinegar chip, but better! My dad loves potato chips, and he was really impressed with this flavor pairing, as were my kids!
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Cono Popcorn Burning BBQ
Seriously, this box had to have been made for my dad! He loves to snack, and salty, flavorful ones are his favorite. I swear I saw his eyes light up a bit when I pulled out this spicy barbecue popcorn! I have to admit I was a little intimidated by the label "Burning BBQ" but thankfully it was only mildly spicy, with a really great barbeque flavor that really made this popcorn exciting. Between my kids and my dad, I really had to fight for a few kernels of this stuff because it was such a hit!
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Sakalans Wafer Halawa and Cream
We are currently 3 for 3 in the like category, so can we go 4 for 4? Yes, we can! This vanilla wafer filled with ground sesame and cream was light and sweet enough to enjoy after a large meal, yet tasty enough to eat on its own. The sweetness of the cream paired well with the nutty crunch of the sesame filling, and gently reminded my dad and me about my grandma's love for those tri-color wafer variety packs!
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Duetto
I found this biscuit cookie with date filling to not only look sophisticated, but taste sophisticated as well. While I am a lover of date bread, date cookies, and date balls, I found this date filling to be very strong in flavor, with almost a whiskey vibe! The biscuit was lightly sweetened to offset the pungent date flavor, but I just thought it was a little too powerful. The rest of the gang gave it a whirl but were left unimpressed. I plan on sending the rest of this cookie in my husband's lunch pail to see what he thinks!
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Cono Puffs Crazy Tomato
So like I said before, my dad loves his snacks....well, he loves Earl's Cheese Puffs so much that he literally buys them by the case and he had my grandma hooked on them! Every time we would go visit grandma, (which was almost every day because we could literally walk across the field and be at her house) she would have a container of cheese puffs sitting in the middle of her table waiting to be sampled. Could these Egyptian tomato corn puffs compete with our usual brand? Yes and no. The texture and size of these particular cheese puffs were spot on, and our hopes were high, but the tomato flavoring was just too much! Because of the powerful flavor, the first bite took us by surprise, but we found ourselves going back for seconds, even if they weren't our favorite.
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El Shamadan White
Hooray for another wafer! This version was a white chocolate-covered wafer with cocoa cream. Upon opening the package I got a whiff of what I thought was coffee! In my initial tasting, I noticed the white chocolate coating and the crunchiness of the wafer, with a melt in your mouth chocolatey coffee kind of feel! While my dad and the kids didn't like this, I found it to be quite delightful with a big glass full of milk!
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Gero Coconut Bar
This item was another one that piqued my dad's interest. He's a sucker for Almond Joy candy bars, so he was intrigued by this Egyptian version. The milk chocolate coating had a wonderfully creamy texture which led to the foamy, sticky coconut filling. I was reminded of marshmallow chocolate bunnies while tasting this treat, but found that I enjoyed this version with the bits of chewy coconut much more!
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Pretzo Original Butter & Herbs
Have you had Dot's Homestyle Pretzels before? If you haven't you must!!! But anyway, we are talking about these Egyptian butter and herb pretzels. So, how were they? Pretty good...with butter in the title I was expecting these pretzels to be shimmery with butter and packed with bits of herb, but that wasn't the case. These dusty looking pretzels didn't give me a real strong butter flavor, but I found the basil addition really savory and addictive. I would much rather eat my body weight's worth of my Dot's pretzels, but these were fun to try.
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The Cinnamon Cookie
I always love seeing a big package of cookies in this box, but I'm always a little scared to see the flavor. This month we received this pretty package of cinnamon butter cookies, and being that I enjoy both of these flavors I was excited to give them a whirl. I think I was expecting a traditional cinnamon and sugar mix on top of a sugar cookie, but that wasn't at all the flavor I received. This cookie had a fine texture, with a little bit of a crunch, but the cinnamon was too strong with not enough sugar to balance it out for my taste. I can see someone maybe eating these with coffee or tea, but we just didn't enjoy this one.
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Spaghetuss Apple
I'm not even sure how to describe these gummy green apple strips! They are definitely chewy like a fruit snack, but pack a real green apple punch that's not too sweet, yet not too sour. I tend to enjoy apple flavored items, and found these okay, just not something I would regularly reach for. My kids thought they were kind of cool though!
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Cono Corn Cones Mindblowing Pizza
Last but not least we have our pizza corn snack. These snacks are shaped like a Bugle, and have to be the most fun a snack can be. Not only are they tasty, but they can become bear claws and party hats as well! I definitely felt like these tasted like pizza - the tomato sauce flavor was there with a bit of green pepper. As you can see, Charlie loved eating this off his bear paws, and really enjoyed the pizza flavor!
The Verdict: We love Universal Yums and while we have been having a bit of a rough month, this was just what we needed to help cheer us up. We found this box really special to share with my dad, and we had a lot of fun recollecting memories of grandma. While none of us had been to Egypt, the information guide helped us learn more about the country my grandma last visited, plus try out cuisines we never would have otherwise. We had a lot of hits this month, and we can't wait to see where the next box will come from!
Scorecard Picks:
- Best Yum: Tiger Chili and Lemon Chips
- Runner-up: Chocolate Wave Hazelnut
- Worst Yum: The Cinnamon Cookie
- Most Unusual: Duetto
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. Each month they ship your box no later than the 15th day of the month. The first month you will receive a box varies based on availability and may depend on the size that you order.
Value Breakdown: This box is $25.00 a month (including shipping). I received 13 individually wrapped snacks which average out to $1.92 per item.
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