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RawSpiceBar Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2016

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseMay 17, 2016 | 12 comments

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Box

RawSpiceBar Spice of the Month Club
4.1 overall rating
44 Ratings | 25 Reviews

RawSpiceBar is a monthly subscription that sends freshly ground, small batch spice blends and recipes that utilize them.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Contents

The Subscription Box: RawSpiceBar

The Cost: $6 per month

COUPON: Use coupon code SPICEFLAVOR to save 50% off your first box!

The Products: 3 freshly ground spice blends from one country or region, enough to create 3 dishes serving 6-10 people.

Ships to: US (with free shipping) and Canada (for an additional fee).

Check out all of our RawSpiceBar reviews and visit the Food Subscription Box Directory for more food boxes!

Keep Track of your subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

A note about shipping: I’ve been reviewing RawSpiceBar for over a year now, and it’s always been one of the last subscriptions I receive every month. My boxes for March and April arrived even later than usual. (I didn’t receive April’s spices until about a week and a half into May.) I’m not sure if all subscribers have been experiencing similar delays, but I thought it was important to mention.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Card

Each month, RawSpiceBar sends spices from one region or geographical area. This shipment spotlights Parsi spices.

This month’s featured spices are: Kala Namak, Cumin & Chile, Parsi Garam Masala, and Rose & Cardamom Blend.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Kala

Kala Namak, Cumin & Chile- 0.3 oz.

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This spice blend is a mix of kala namak (black salt), cumin, and red chiles.

Kala namak is “used extensively in Indian cuisine and has a very distinctive sulfurous taste with tangy, fresh flavor notes.”

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Garam

Parsi Garam Masala- 0.3 oz.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-GaramClose

RawSpiceBar’s Parsi Garam Masala is a combination of green cardamom, coriander, bay leaves, black cardamom, black cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, black peppercorns, star anise, fennel, and fenugreek.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Rose

Rose & Cardamom Blend- 0.2 oz.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-RoseClose

This final spice blend is made up of rose petals, green cardamom, and ginger.

Parsi Recipes

This month, RawSpiceBar included the following recipes: Jardaloo Ma Murghi (Parsi Chicken Curry), Kachumber Salad, and Rose & Cardamom Kulfi.

I’ve vowed to cut back on sweets this month, so I decided to make the salad and curry but to skip dessert.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-MurghiRecipe

I began by making the Jardaloo Ma Murghi. (Note: I cut down the recipe by half, since only my husband and I would be eating it for dinner.)

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Murghi1

First, I sautéed onions in olive oil until they turned golden. I then added the Parsi Garam Masala followed by chopped garlic and grated ginger.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Murghi2

After stirring for a few minutes, I added the chicken thighs and allowed them to brown on all sides.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-Murghi3

Next, I stirred in canned whole plum tomatoes, breaking them down as I added them. The next step called for adding soaked apricots.

The recipe neglected to provide instructions for soaking the apricots. (It just said “add the soaked apricots.”) This was definitely a flaw in the recipe, and I was a little annoyed that I didn’t notice it until after I’d started cooking. Since I didn’t have time to let the apricots soak on the counter, I placed them in a bowl with the water and heated them in the microwave until they were warm and puffy. I chopped them and added them into the stew, stirred everything together, turned the heat down to medium-low, and covered the pan with a lid.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-KachumberRecipe

While the curry cooked, I made the kachumber salad by mixing together chopped cucumbers, tomato, onion, mint leaves, cilantro (I’m assuming this recipe was adapted from a British one, since it called for coriander instead of cilantro…), lemon juice, salt and pepper, and RawSpiceBar’s Kala Namak, Cumin & Chile spices.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-MealPlated1

RawSpiceBar suggested serving the curry with either rice or bread, so I made some basmati rice. Since I had some leftover garam masala (because I only made a 1/2 recipe), I tossed in a pinch with the rice.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-MealPlated2

When the curry was ready, I plated it with the rice and topped it with fresh cilantro. The recipe recommended adding cilantro only for “those who tolerate it,” which made me chuckle a little. I love cilantro, but my mom and brother think it tastes like dish soap. If anyone else is in the same boat, I think parsley would have been a nice addition to this dish, too.

RawSpiceBar-April-2016-MealPlated3

The curry was delicious! My husband and I both enjoyed it, and we had enough for leftovers. The kachumber salad was good too. For me, the spice blend was a little cumin heavy to be used on salad (I guess I favor cumin as a lead spice for meats and stews more than cold veggies), but that’s just a matter of personal taste. The kachumber salad was still a refreshing accompaniment to the curry.

Verdict: I really enjoyed this month’s RawSpiceBar spices and recipes. The Jardaloo Ma Murghi was delicious, and I think it paired pretty well with the kachumber salad. I’m disappointed that this month’s curry recipe was flawed (it happens far too regularly with RawSpiceBar recipes), but I’m pleased that it wasn’t too much of a problem. I’m also a little concerned that my last couple of spice shipments have been arriving later than usual. Despite these problems, though, I’m still a RawSpiceBar fan. Their spices are always fresh and high quality, and I love that every month introduces me to a new cuisine!

What do you think about RawSpiceBar's Parsi Spice Box?

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Choose from a 3, 6, or 12-month subscription of global spice blends to be delivered directly to your favorite cook's door. Each month, we pair our fresh, handcrafted spice blends with a mouthwatering recipe to inspire even the most experienced home cook and bring out their best in the kitchen.
Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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12 comments

Kari Atkins

After reading many reviews on the rawspice box I decided to give it a shot, I love food and what better way to try new stuff.
However I didn’t happen to notice that everyone seems to be having shipping issues, I ordered my sub in Mid-March apparently I was too late for that box no problem but it is now coming to end of May and I have not received my April box. I live in Canada so I don;t know if this is isolated to shipping here or if it everywhere.
I was told 2 weeks ago a new box was shipping out but after confirmation yesterday they still HAVEN’T shipped it. I am done over it, now waiting on a refund.
Had I bought this as a gift first rather than what I usually do after trying a sub box out the I would have been pissed. Not impressed nor would I eve recommend

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Stephanie

I was really excited to try this out but never received April’s spices and it’s almost the end of May. After contacting support, I was promised a second one would be sent and still I haven’t received anything. What a disappointment 🙁

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Pam

I never got my March or April shipments. They allegedly sent out a replacement for March and that never arrived. I don’t tend to have a problem with receiving my mail at my current address so I don’t know if they never shipped them or the post office on their end is screwed up. I did get a refund though for those shipments. But I will never subscribe to them again.

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Helen Whaley

I would love to sign up for this sub, particularly after reading this month’s review. It sounds tailor made for my style of cooking.
I was holding off as I’m preparing for a cross country move and madly trying to use up consumables. It does seem that there are some kinks to be resolved with this company, so perhaps holding off is a good thing for now.

And yes, the cilantro gene is a real thing. My husband and best friend both have it, which means much quizzing of servers about the dreaded ingredient when we eat out!

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Ragan

Well, since my April package never came, and I can’t log into my account (have never been able to, like since I started subscribing), I emailed them to cancel. And it took maybe 6 hours and I had refunds for April and May as well as a confirmation that I’ve been canceled.

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:)

I was waiting for this review to come up before I tried out the recipes, but I gave up and made it last weekend. In addition to the omission of apricot-soaking directions (I read the card while gathering ingredients and so I put them in a bowl of water overnight), there was a teaspoon of brown sugar mentioned in the ingredients that wasn’t included in the text. I just dumped it in there when I realized.

Since I’m a vegetarian, I used tofu and cut up mushrooms instead of the meat in the curry recipe. I also managed to burn the onions a little in step 1, but was too lazy to start over. Overall, I found the curry dish to be edible, but I don’t really love it. Of course, I hate wasting food and will be forcing myself to finish it this week.

I also made the cucumber salad. Now, wow- those spices stink (I mean, the scent). Once I got past that initial surprise, it tasted just fine, but I’m not terribly excited about eating it (that will accompany my forced curry this week). I should also note that the smell went away after it sat in the fridge overnight.

I read through the kulfi recipe and decided that was too much work and too many special ingredients..i can’t imagine the cost of gathering that all up to make a dessert I’m not even that crazy about (when it’s professionally made). I read on another blog that someone was going to use those spices in mango lassi, and I do love mango lassi, so I will be looking around for ideas on that. I’d love to hear if anyone else did something different with the dessert spices.

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Veronica

They’ve found the cilantro thing is genetic. Some people think it tastes like dish soap. I’m one of those people who hates it, IDK if I’d say it’s dish soap but when I eat foods and it’s in there I make some sincerely bad faces. The kind you don’t want to make in public. lol
So reading this recipe I ended up cringing when I saw it’s leafy horribleness.

I wish that this sub didn’t constantly have issues, I would love to sub it for sure, but I can’t justify even that small of an amount if I can’t be certain I’ll receive the items. 🙁

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misanthropic789

I’ve always received my items from raw spice bar. The recipes sometimes have errors in them, however, so a close reading beforehand is always important.

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Emily

I love cilantro but my husband can only tolerate small amounts. He read somewhere that people have a gene that either makes cilantro taste great or like soap. Who knew?!

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Ragan

Huh, these spices don’t sound familiar at all. I don’t think I ever got my package for April. The last one I remember was the Afghan one with the ridiculous amount of rice called for in one recipe. Although maybe it is my post office’s fault over and above the late shipping. My mom sent my husband’s birthday card over a week ago and he still doesn’t have it (even though my brother-in-law in New York, who has the same birthday as my husband, got his card last week — they were mailed on the same day).

I am going to cancel this one. They really don’t seem to care about accurate recipes, providing anything useful to vegetarians, or actually shipping the packages.

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chris

Congrats on your marriage, Ragan! ❤️

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Ragan

Thanks!