Reviewed by
Mary
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.
The goodies come in a beautiful presentation box. This is nice enough to reuse!
This month’s theme is Citrus Summer, a celebration of all things Japanese citrus.
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It’s a wonderful theme too, Japan is famous for several indigenous citrus fruit which are wonderful and unusual flavours.
The menu booklet contains a ton of information.
There’s also a highly descriptive list of all the items in the box, which includes origin and, importantly, allergens.
This month there’s also a great little article about the specialist candy maker who creates the marvellous exclusive Bokksu candies.
Here’s yet another variety of the amazing mochi puffs we’ve seen in previous Bokksus: Sentouchi Lemon Mochi Puffs. These extraordinary snacks are not chewy like the usual kind of mochi, but insitead instead they are incredibly light, crisp, and they melt in the mouth. These are flavoured with Setouchi Lemon, and are a flavour and texture combination you’ll have never experienced before!
Seaweed Tempura: Setouchi Sudachi Flavour is a battered friend seaweed snack. These are then flavoured with sudachi, which is a small green citrus fruit which is native to Japan. (Sadly I can’t eat these because they contain shellfish, to which I’m allergic, but I understand they are delicious!)
This is something of a multipurpose snack: Candied Iyokan Peels. Iyokan is a Japanese citrus similar to a mandarin orange, and tastes somewhere between and orange and a grapefruit. The preserved peel is both sweet and bitter, and you can eat it as is, dip it in chocolate, or even use it in baked goods!
Lemon Salk Okaki are both salty and salt, which is a very moreish combination. These fried mochi are crunchy and dense, and would go beautifully with a cold beer on a hot summer evening.
These Shiroebi Yuzu Kosho are crispy and very thin, and have several layers of flavour. You have yuzu, another Japanese citrus, shiroebi, which is white shrimp, and finally yuzu kosho, which is a fermented paste made from chili, yuzu peel, and salt. These are another item I can’t try myself, but I think these complex flavours sound fascinating and unique.
Here we have two little individual Orange Stick Cakes. They’re exactly as described, orange cake in the shape of a stick. These individually wrapped cakes have orange slices baked into the top, which give and extra boost to the already strong orange flavour. They are rich but surprisingly light in texture, and perfect with a cup of tea.
Lemon Vinegar Arare are a type of little rice crackers which have a crunchy and light texture. The lemon vinegar is quite intense, but incredibly fragrant. and this cracker is a great vehicle for this strong flavour sensation.
This delicious candy is called Pom Pon Juice Mikan Orange Mochi. They are made in collaboration with Pom Pon Juice, which is a very popular drink in Japan made from mikan juice, which is a type of sweet mandarin. These are sweet marshmallowy mochi with a delicious filling of mikan jam. Sweet and delicious!
Yuzu Peanut Brittle is a fantastic twist on a common candy. This is like regular peanut brittle, but it contains yuzu peel, which is a great great contrast to the sweetness of the caramel. I’d love more of these, two aren’t enough!
In Japan tea isn’t just for drinking, and these Okinawan Orange Black Tea Cookies contain both black tea and orange peel for a sweet and slightly flavour combination. The cookies themselves are rather like crumbly shortbread, and are called chinsuko, a traditional Okinawa treat.
Kakitani Yuzu Kosho Flavour pack something of a spicy punch! These crunchy crescent shaped rice crackers are flavoured with the same Yuzu Kosho as the shrimp senbei above, and are another fantastic bar snack. Definitely not for the fainthearted though!
This month’s tea is Organic Genmaicha is a very unusual tea. It combines sencha leaves with powdered roasted brown rice, and while this sounds a little strange, it gives the tea a full and slightly nutty flavour.
Finally we have lovely Handmade Yuzu Sake Candy. This is made by the specialized company featured in the menu booklet, and is made with Yuzu flavoured sake, Japanese rice wine.
This month’s selection is exceptionally good.
I’m slightly sorry that there are a couple of snacks I can’t have, but I have lovely people who are only too happy to take them off my hands!
It’sso great to see yet another variety of the mochi puffs, as they really are the most extraordinary things. The orange mochi are also gorgeously sweet treats, and are a great contrast to the spicier snacks this month.
