Bokksu: Discover Japan Through Snacks – January 2019

Bokksu is the only Japanese snack box that sources directly from snack makers in Japan, so many of our artisanal products cannot be found anywhere else. Start your cultural journey through Japan by subscribing to Bokksu and receiving a curated box of premium Japanese snacks and teas delivered to your door every month.

They have two levels of subscription: the Tasting, which is smaller, and the one I have received, The Classic.Subscriptions are prepaid for one, three, six, or twelve months.For the Classic box they work out at $39 (around £30), $37, $35 , and $33 per month.As usual, they are priced in dollars, so GBP conversion is according to today’s exchange rate. Obviously this will vary, but it gives you some idea of cost.

This lovely limited-editionwhite and gold box is only available for December and January.

It’s a new year, so this is a perfect theme: Golden New Year.

The contents of this month’s box represent the Japanese New Year’s Meal, with traditional flavours and a shimmer of gold!

As always, you’ve got a map that shows you the origin of each snack in the box.

The menu is a double fold out, with descriptions, and a very useful allergy list.

This cute packaging is Kinako Mochi Cookie. Kinako (roasted soybean powder) is often used in mochi, which are traditionally eaten at New Year in Japan. This cookie is sweet and chewy with tiny pieces of mochi inside.

Golden Financier is an originally French cake that Japan produces in abundance, and apparently is named for the resemblance to a gold bar. It’s made with almond flour and brown butter, and is incredibly moist and delicious.

We’ve see a matcha version of these Black Sesame Kinako Chocolate Azuki Beans in previous boxes. This time the sweet fermented beans are dipped in chocolate and dusted with black sesame and chocolate kinako powder. Very nice indeed.

Rusk is another traditional Japanese snack, which is thin slices of bread spread with butter, sprinkled with sugar, and then baked twice to produce a sweet and crispy light snack. This Rasucre White Chocolate Rusk has an extra layer of white chocolate.

Matcha Chocolate Crunch has all the taste of matcha without a heavy tea flavour, and is a crunchy shortbread biscuit covered in matcha white chocolate.

Rice crackers come in many different flavours, and this variety is a Cheese Curry Rice Cracker. This crispy rice cracker has a very flavoursome Japanese curry flavour, with a tiny hint of cheese for an extra flavour twist.

Garitto Cheese are recommended as beer snacks! The combination of a slightly sweet biscuit and the umami flavour of this Hokkaido speciality cheese gives it a very rich flavour.

Fried Seaweed With Blue Cheese is another salty crispy snack. The squid flavour of these battered and fried pieces of seaweed combines very well with the blue cheese.

Ebi Crunch is made with shrimp, which symbolizes the wish for long life. These puffed rice crackers contain the complex flavours of the shrimp with soy, garam masala, plus a little spice from pepper and curry powder.

Onigiri Senbei Okonmiaki Sauce. These little senbei are named for the traditional Japanese rice balls, and flavoured with classic Japanese dry seasoning.

This is a fun little touch of Japanese kawaii! Bake Cookie Rilakkuma is to celebrate the joint birthday of Bake and the classic San-X bear character. The snack itself is a little chocolate cake topped with a butter cookie.

Finally, this month’s tea is the first specially branded Bokksu Tea, Pure Gyokuro. This is a top grade Japanese green tea, with a slightly sweet and light grassy flavour.

This is a lovely box of goodies to ring in the New Year!

I love all the different flavours, and while my shellfish allergy meant I couldn’t eat the seaweed or Ebi Crunch, the other items more than made up for it!

My absolute favourite was the Golden Financier. I can’t quite believe how a packaged cake that’s come from Japan can taste so incredibly fresh and moist! I ate them both and then regretted not saving one for later, as they’re so good.

The white chocolate rusk is also delicious, and manages to be rich and light at the same time.

I’m also a big kinako fan, as I love the rich flavour, so I was delighted to have two snacks featuring this taste!