Universal Yums “Israel” Review – April 2019
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 $14 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 Israel!
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 to 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: U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and Israel
Universal Yums “Israel” April 2019 Review
Because I can count the number of times I have been on a plane, on one hand, you could say I like to be home. While I love the thought of experiencing different cultures, I am too big of a chicken to actually do it. That being said, Universal Yums has opened my eyes to new places and cultures without even leaving my house!
When you first open the box, you see a large map of Israel with fun clip art and facts about the country. On the back, you will find “The Official Yum Awards” sheet. Here you are able to rank each snack and post it on your social media page for a chance to win snacks! There is also a secret puzzle to solve and a game idea. My son loved filling this out!
Not only do we get a map of Israel, but we also get this detailed guide that takes us on a tour of Israel. The guidebook features historical information, a trivia quiz, ingredient lists printed in English, information on each snack, recipes, and a clue to next months box!
Let’s experience Israel!
Kremli Nougat Bites
Oh my goodness! These peanut butter coated cereal bites are stuffed with hazelnut cream and are DELICIOUS! They are soft and crunchy with a sweet and salty taste. My snack helpers loved this one and we demolished the entire bag in about 5 minutes. I tried finding them online because I would love to purchase these again, but had no such luck.
Falafel Shashi Flavored Puffs
The next item we sampled was these corn and rice puffs. They are flavored with falafel (fried fritters made from chickpeas or fava beans mixed with herbs, spices, and onions.) I have never experienced this flavor before but I am a fan! These little puffs were the perfect mix of salty, spicy, and crunchy.
Strauss Popping Chocolate
Chocolate with pop rocks?! What?!!! This is awesome! The milk chocolate was so tasty, and the pop rocks start popping the instant they hit your mouth. This was definitely the most fun item in the box! I NEED more of this!
2 Mahroum Coconut Rolls
We received 2 of these pretty little coconut bars rolled in coconut flakes. Each bar was about 2” long, and very coconutty! The bar itself was soft and chewy and tasty. If you do not like coconut, you most likely won’t like this snack, but if you do, you are in for a treat!
Onion Bassli – Retail Value $1.49
These onion flavored wheat snacks are crunchy and delicious. They taste slightly like a crispier version of a Funyun without being too salty. My boys gave these two thumbs up, especially because you can wear them as rings!
Mini Pistachio Halva – Buy an assortment of 18 here for $5.19
Here we received two small sesame candy bars with pistachios. At first, the bar was sweet and nutty, but that was followed by a bitter aftertaste. I will let my husband have the other one!
Everything Chik Chak – Retail Value $1.00
These Everything Chik Chak wheat spirals were crunchy and salty, and kind of reminded me of a barbeque Frito spiral. I thought these were a very yummy treat, and my kids enjoyed them as well.
Pomegranate Turkish Delight – Buy a 12 oz box here for $6.99
This was a very interesting snack. It almost tasted like a pomegranate gummy bear. It was sweet with a yummy almond crunch. The powdered sugar on top made a big mess, and I would have maybe liked more almonds but it was pretty good.
Mahroum Handmade Baklava
Next, we have this fancy little package from Nazareth. These look expensive, and taste delicious! They are very sweet, flaky, and flavorful. They are packed with cinnamon and nuts. These were gone in minutes!
Baked Garlic and Onion Puffs
I love this huge bag we received! These cute corn balls are packed with a garlic, onion, and salt flavor. They are similar to the falafel puffs. Both of my kids enjoyed these, and want them in their lunch boxes for school!
Pesek Zman “Blondie” Chocolate Bar
This bar was soooo good! It tasted like a mix between a Carmello and a Kit-Kat bar. I am a huge fan of chocolate, and this bar was perfectly sweet, crunchy, and divine! Where can you go wrong with milk chocolate and caramel coated wafers?!
BBQ Bissli
These barbecue flavored wheat snacks were so crunchy, and such a fun spiral shape! I love how smokey and packed with flavor they were. I say were because I may have eaten them all! Whoops!
Elite Egozi Bar – Retail Value $1.50
This candy bar features milk chocolate with caramel, nougat, and hazelnuts. It looks like a Milky Way, but has such a great taste. I couldn’t get enough of it. My kids loved it too. I wish they had these in the US!
The Verdict: We LOVED the Israel box! This was our favorite box so far. Universal Yums does such a great job creating a whole experience in a box. We love the map and guide and learning about the featured country along with trying all these yummy snacks. My kids wait for this box each month, and this one didn’t disappoint! We can’t wait to see where the next box will come from!
My scorecard picks:
- Best Yum: Strauss Popping Chocolate
- Runner-up: Kremli Nougat Bites
- Worst Yum: Mini Pistachio Halva
- Most Unusual: Pomegranate Turkish Delight
To Wrap Up:
Can I still get this box if I 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 16 individual snacks, which averages out to $1.56 per item.
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Written by Becca Peterson
The U.S. Pop Rocks brand had a milk chocolate bar a few years back, but it was either limited edition or didn’t sell well as they don’t make it anymore.
I loved seeing this review! I’m a kosher eater so I can’t buy any of the regular snack boxes or food subscriptions so it was exciting for me to see kosher products. Of course, I can’t buy this box anymore, but it was nice to see something familiar (and yes, I can read all those Hebrew letters…what they mean is a different story 🙂 ).
Fun facts: 1. Bamba (mentioned in the comments) is a peanut-flavored Israeli snack which was designed to be a baby’s first food. It has been proven that Israelis rarely suffer from peanut allergies, and it’s probably because they’re exposed to peanuts from infancy!
2. Gal Gadot introduces Jimmy Fallon to that popping chocolate in this clip (at the 4-minute mark). It’s actually quite good and such a fun experience! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTbPlfRS_c4
Thank you so much for commenting and for the info!! Much appreciated! ❤️
And thank you for the link for that video! That was so funny!!
I’m Israeli, and this mix is disappointing. They did not include Bamba. Everyone knows that bamba is on the top of the list for Israeli snacks right up with Bisley. They simple included cheap stuff that I can get buy in my local NYC store for about $10 total. The Bisley are 33 to 99 cents depending on where you buy them. They didn’t include the twisted thin chocolate bars. This makes me wonder how authentic and true to price their other boxes are.
That popping chocolate was WILD! I really loved all the snacks in this box, it was my first month. I’m excited for the SKorea box too. I used to live there so I’m really curious if there will be anything familiar to me.
Weren’t those poppy chocolates awesome!!? The kids brought out the bar every time someone came over to see how cool it was!
i’m surprised they didn’t include bambas – peanut flavored corn puffs – i went to tel avid two years ago and they were EVERYWHERE.
This wasn’t the first time Universal Yums did an Israel box. They try really hard to not repeat snacks, even if they repeat a country. They had Bambas last time. 🙂
The super yum box had a bag of Shasha Peanut Snack (peanut butter flavored corn puffs) but not sure if they are the same as the ones you mean. Maybe just a different brand?
I just signed up for this box so my first one will be May – South Korea. But what a great review. I wish I got this one
That’s so exciting! I hope it’s a good box! I have to say, this last one was my favorite so far! The spoilers look pretty tasty for South Korea! I can’t wait to get it. Thanks for commenting!
Becca, if you live in a big city, Google to see whether there’s a store that sells Israeli foods there. You could find some of the items there. Here in the Atlanta area, that’s The Spicy Peach.
Bissli is carried by the large supermarket chains (like Publix and Kroger) in the “international foods” aisle in areas with an Israeli or Jewish population (cities with a big university are a good bet!)
Egozi is the taste of paradise on Earth. Glad you enjoyed these! This seems like an insanely good value for $25, especially with all the care and work that went into producing the booklet contents.
This is an awesome subscription. Thank you for commenting! I wish I lived closer to a big city- our closest town is 30 miles and all that is there is a Walmart. I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for when we go on a road trip to the cities though! My sons keep asking when the next box will be here! 😊
If you head to places like Miami, NYC (or any of the other boroughs), LA…any place with a large Jewish population, you can find all of these snacks. Just go to Kosher markets.
Also, you can pick up the popping chocolate on Amazon 😊
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JNSR4MC/ref=dp_cerb_1
The brand name is Elite, not Strauss.
Hey Becca, if you live near a big city you’d be able to find a lot of these snacks at Kosher specialty stores, I know here in Atlanta we have a Kosher shop that carries many of these items that can’t be found online. You could always google a kosher or Israeli market in your area if you wanted to track down some of these snacks again.
Thanks for commenting!! I wish I lived near a big city!!! The closest store is 30 miles from my house, and it’s a Walmart! I might have to make a list for when we go to a bigger city!