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.)
The Subscription Box: RawSpiceBar
The Cost: $8 per month
COUPON: Use coupon code SPICEADDICT5 to get your first box for $3!
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!
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Each month, RawSpiceBar sends spices from one region or geographical area. This is the “Pondicherry Spice Box.”
Each spice blend comes with a recipe card that has a suggested recipe on each side. In the past, boxes have contained only one recipe per spice, and I’m pleased to see that RawSpiceBar is upping the number of recipes in every box. I know some vegetarian subscribers have been frustrated with meat-centric recipes in the past, so hopefully, we’ll now see meat and vegetarian options in every box!
This box also contained a little card that you can give to a friend. It contains a code for a free box (note that s&h will still be charged, though).
Indo-French Vadouvan, 0.3 oz.
The first blend included this month is a mix of shallots, onion, garlic, toasted fenugreek, toasted fennel seed, curry leaves, toasted cumin, toasted cloves, and green cardamom.
Here are the suggested recipes for this blend:
The next spice in this month’s box is peppercorn chai.
Peppercorn Chai, 0.3 oz.
This is is a combination of toasted black peppercorns, rose petals, ginger, cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, and star anise.
I love the sound of this blend! According to RawSpiceBar, it’s perfectly suited fore use in tea and dessert.
The last spice blend in this kit is unpumpkin pie spice. Whaaaa?
Unpumpkin Pie Spice, 0.3 oz.
The name for this blend is cute, but I’m not entirely sure why it’s called “umpumpkin pie spice.” The blend seems pretty close to most pumpkin pie spice blends. It contains ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, black peppercorns, and star anise.
I guess the idea behind this blend is that pumpkin-friendly spices are great with a lot of things that aren’t pumpkin! I decided to take that idea to heart (and draw some inspiration from the recommended recipes) and make fall-spiced, cranberry-swirled corn bread. I added the spices to my go-to cornbread recipe, and I swirled in some leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce.
My hope was that this would bake up with visible swirls of cranberry, but the sauce ended up getting mostly absorbed into the bread during baking.
Womp womp. Oh well! There were still some whole cranberries in the bread, and the cranberry sauce added some nice additional sweetness. I served the bread while it was still hot, and I topped it with some extra cranberry sauce for good measure.
I’ve never added spices like this to cornbread before, and I thought the flavor was unexpected and delicious! With the extra cranberry sauce on top, this could easily have passed as a lightly sweetened dessert.
Verdict: I enjoyed this month’s RawSpiceBar box, and I like that it inspired me to use up some of my leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce in a fun and creative way. I haven't had a chance to try out the other spices yet, but I’ve been brainstorming about how I’m going to use them. Has anyone tried them yet? Any recommendations?
Since I used my own recipe this month, I wasn’t able to try the recipes provided by RawSpiceBar. If you’re thinking about subscribing, though, it’s important to know that RawSpiceBar has a history of sending flawed and unedited recipes. Their spice blends are always fresh and unique, but the recipes can be problematic. (Check out my previous RawSpiceBar reviews for more details.) Still, I always have a lot of fun with RawSpiceBar. If you like cooking with new spices and exploring different cuisines, RawSpiceBar might be a good fit for you, too.
Lastly, I feel obligated to mention that several subscribers have experienced issues with RawSpiceBar’s customer service. Several readers have reported issues with billing and missing shipments. This isn’t a problem I’ve experienced personally, but it’s always a good idea to keep reports of poor customer service in mind before deciding to subscribe to a new box.
What do you think about RawSpiceBar’s Pondicherry Spice Box?
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