Universal Yums is a snack subscription box that sends out snacks and candies from a different country each month. 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 are included in this box. Choose from the Yum Box for $16.00 per month, the Yum Yum Box for $27.00 per month, or the Super Yum Box for $41.00 per month.
This review is of the Yum Yum box, which is $27.00 per month.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we review boxes.)
First Impressions
My oh my, how time flies. I swear I just blinked, and December was over. Gone are the holiday treats, and here we are moving on to our January box already. My youngest son Charlie had requested we make gingerbread cookies, and we just didn't get to it before Christmas. Now that I am cooked/baked/wrapped right out, he has been begging me to mix up a batch. When I mentioned to him that he doesn't even like the flavor of gingerbread, he argued - that is until we opened up this month's Universal Yums box. Lo and behold we were greeted with a variety of gingerbread treats! What did he think of them? Read below to find out!
What's Inside The Box
Every month we receive a fun, illustrated map that shows where our Yums are coming from. This month our brightly colored map depicts Poland with a variety of trivia. The backside hosts the usual Yum Scoreboard and scavenger hunt. Also included in this box is a lovely pamphlet that guides you through each country via trivia, recipes, photography, and activities. Not only is this box tasty, but it's educational as well!
Ptasie Mleczko Dark Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Bar - Buy a pack of 3 for $1.50
1 of 4
Interestingly enough, after reading the included pamphlet, we learned that E. Wedel company is to Poland as Hershey's is to the US. As a chocolate fanatic, I was excited to see this as the first item in the box and couldn't wait to give it a try. Charlie was my tasting buddy this month, and because this year he discovered a love of marshmallow chocolate Santa's, he thoroughly enjoyed this dark chocolate covered marshmallow bar. I found the consistency of marshmallow to be a bit thicker than US varieties, which I preferred, but I think I would have liked it more had the coating been milk chocolate. All in all, we were satisfied with this first item and couldn't wait to move on.
Cheese & Onion Pretzel Sticks - Buy a pack of 6 for $4.80
1 of 4
Hello pretzels! Thin and crisp and delicious, these long pretzel sticks are flavored with "pierogi" - aka cheese and onion dumplings. As you may have read previously, I am addicted to Dots pretzels, but I really liked the texture and size of these cheesy, oniony rods. They definitely weren't overpowering in the flavor department, but the hint of flavoring was light, making them a perfect dipper for a maybe a little artichoke dip or beer cheese. Charlie was pumped that the bag was large because he loved these sticks and wants to order more.
Cocoa Glazed Gingerbread Sticks - Buy a pack of 3 for $5.10
1 of 4
Onto the gingerbread... like I mentioned above, Charlie has been dying to whip up some gingerbread cookies. I'm pretty sure he has tried them in the past and has not been a fan, so I didn't want to dedicate an entire day to making them. That's where these cocoa-glazed gingerbread sticks came in at the perfect time. Slender, spicy, and coated with chocolate, this is the one version of gingerbread I myself actually enjoy. Usually, the ginger flavor is just too overpowering for me, but these sticks were fantastic! Paired with a cup of coffee these made for a wonderful breakfast treat. Charlie too enjoyed these little sticks and now really wants to make a set of men... I told him to just wait a tiny bit as there is more gingerbread to come...
Original Monster Munch Potato Crisps - Buy a pack of 3 for $4.20
1 of 3
The last time we received a Universal Yums box from Poland was back in 2020, and back then we received these same crispy potato snacks. After pulling up my previous review, our views haven't changed much - these fluffy, salty, adorable ghost-shaped snacks are light and delicious. Back in 2020 Hank brought a baggie of these little guys to school for snack, but this time they were gone before he even had the chance! Yummy!
Jogusie Yogurt Candy
1 of 2
Now here is an interesting combo. On the outside you have a slightly hard shell that easily breaks into a yogurt inside. We received a raspberry, peach, and lemon version - trying the raspberry version first. Both Charlie and I loved the flavor and texture combo, finding it sweet than tart for a complexity that left us wanting more. Next up was peach, and it just wasn't the same.... too peachy and sweet, not enough tartness. Lemon was okay, but just not as tasty as the raspberry version. I sure wish they would have sent us a strawberry one to try!! Maybe next time 🙂
Chocolate Covered Pierniczki Gingerbread - Buy a pack of 6 for $4.20
1 of 4
Here we have more gingerbread! Hooray for Charlie (maybe). This beautiful gingerbread cookie is covered in soft chocolate and would look lovely on any cookie platter. The taste though was a miss for us. Chewy, extremely gingery, and a little bit dry, this choco dipped cookie just wasn't like the gingerbread sticks we tried earlier. Charlie took one bite and spit it in the garbage. I didn't think it was terrible enough to spit out, but I didn't find it enjoyable enough to have another bite. To Dustin's lunch box it goes!!
Milk Fudge Krowka Candy - Buy a pack of 3 for $4.80
How cute are these little candy wrappers?! I love the cow clipart and the folded edges; they just look so simple and sweet! Inside is a milk fudge caramel with a crumbly outside and gooey inside. A little grainier than a traditional caramel, I found this to be the perfect mixture of a caramel and fudge. It was sweet and tasty, but also quite rich. One piece was perfect with my cup of coffee and Charlie's glass of milk.
E. Wedel Milk Chocolate with Peanut & Cocoa Filling - Buy a pack of 4 for $4.00
1 of 4
Like our first Yum of this box, this peanut and cocoa filled milk chocolate bar was also made by E. Wedel. I love peanuts and I love milk chocolate, so I was anxious to try this bar. As you can see from them photo, the inside looks quite a bit different than anything we have in the US. Drier and richer, this dense bar is tasty, but in really small doses and paired with a heaping glass of milk. Charlie was a fan, but he too needed a refill of milk after this treat.
Butter & Salt Potato Chips - Buy a single pack for $5.00
1 of 3
I sure wish my mom would have been around to give these chips a go! Being butter obsessed, she puts butter on everything, and I thoroughly think she would have enjoyed these chips. Upon opening the bag, I was greeted with a buttery smell - similar to that of movie theatre popcorn, and the taste was a bit strange at first, but then all came together for a buttery, salty, potato chip that felt like I was eating popcorn. Quite strange really. Similar in texture to Lay's, the only real difference is this butter flavor, and I have to say, I'm kind of here for it! Charlie is my little popcorn connoisseur, and he gave these chips two thumbs up, especially excited because the bag was so huge!
Iced Mint Pierniczki Gingerbread - Buy a pack of 2 for $6.00
1 of 3
One last gingerbread flavored item for good measure! After our last cookie, Charlie wasn't quite sure what to think of these little clover-shaped cookies, but he wanted to give them a try. I left out the detail that these were mint-flavored, just to see what he thought of them on his own. After one bite, he exclaimed "yuck, why does it taste like spicy mint?!" Oh child, I wish I knew! According to the pamphlet, this recipe is fine-tuned, aging the dough for about a year, when a skilled employee relies on smell and touch to see if it is ready. I feel quite badly that we thought these were so awful after so much time and work, but why, oh why would you put mint icing on gingerbread cookies? I'm sure people must enjoy this and kudos to them, but I just can't quite wrap my head around this flavor combo.
E. Wedel Dark Chocolate with Panna Cotta Filling - Buy a pack of 2 for $5.20
1 of 4
Our last yum is another dark chocolate E. Wedel version, only this time, it is filled with panna cotta filling. In case you were wondering, panna cotta is cooked cream, which they have topped with berries in this instance. Looking beautiful and decadent, this chocolate is similar to the dark chocolate coating on the marshmallow treat but filled with a slight berry cream. I really, really, really wanted to like this bar as it was large in size and so pretty on the package, but the dark chocolate was just too bitter for me. Charlie passed on this one still in disbelief with the gingerbread and mint flavor combo from above, so this too went into the lunch box pile.
The Verdict
As I said above, the Poland Universal Yums box came at the perfect time, ultimately saving me from a mess of gingerbread cookies that I would have had to probably eat on my own. Charlie has now had his fill of gingerbread and has moved on to asking me to make chocolate chip cookies instead (thankfully much easier)! This month was probably one of the most interesting curations we have ever received. Being not a huge fan of gingerbread, or dark chocolate, it sadly wasn't one of my favorites, but was still a fun experience. We enjoyed more than half of the included treats, and the rest went to work with my husband to be tried by others that may appreciate some of the bold flavors more than we did. Educational and fun, we had a neat time trying new foods, but hope for more milk chocolate and spicy flavors next month. Where do you think we will be headed in February? Any guesses?
Scorecard Picks:
- Favorite: Original Monster Munch Potato Crisps
- Runner-up: Cocoa Glazed Gingerbread Sticks
- Worst Yum: Iced Mint Pierniczki Gingerbread
- Most Unusual: Butter & Salt Potato Chips
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, sign up now and choose to start with either the Everywhere, Scandinavia, or Poland box.
Value Breakdown: This box is $27.00 per month (including shipping). I received 17 individually wrapped snacks which average out to $1.58 per item.
Which Universal Yums snack would you most like to try?
Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.