(oil sizzling)
(doorbell ringing)
- Hello and welcome to Sorted Food.
- Once again, we've been busy bees scouring the internet
for some fun food subscriptions for us to taste, test,
and review for your viewing pleasure.
- Now, because we're all friends here,
we've actually been out buying these subscription boxes
for each other to review.
- And we're gonna start with my gift from me to Michael.
- I'm intrigued and excited.
(upbeat music)
Can I?
- [Jamie] Please.
- Premium Japanese snacks.
Oh, hey.
I've been taking things out of this box
for about two minutes.
This is like Mary Poppins' handbag.
- So Mike, what you have
is the Bokksu Japanese Snack subscription box.
Bokksu delivers to your door the experience of tasting
authentic Japanese snacks, candies, and teas
sourced directly from centuries old,
small family businesses.
Every month you can now get a box of all of those goodies
sent to you, so you can explore the whole range
of Japanese snacks and delicacies
without having to go there.
- Every single product has a section
that tells you about it.
For example, this is a white strawberry.
It's the world's first chocolate infused strawberry.
Harvested, freeze dried,
infused with white chocolate, and cooled.
That is amazing. (Barry laughing)
- [Ben] The smile says it all.
- That is so delicious.
We've got some mochi, Ebbers.
- Love a mochi.
- Baz, you can have the matcha chocolate bar, good catch.
Spaff, red bean donut.
- Excellent.
- Okay Baz, let me tell you a little bit about that.
This soft cake uses Matcha from Uji, Kyoto,
which is known for it's high quality matcha.
Pairing earthy matcha with bitter sweet chocolate chips
gives this cake a rich, subtle, sweet flavour.
- That's travelled a long way,
but it tastes pretty fresh doesn't it?
- That's rather special.
- What I really like, is that this is doing a good thing
in both directions.
This is our ability to travel without travelling
by getting the snacks delivered to us.
All of the small artisanal producers who are producing
really traditional snacks and sweets and things
are also getting their
products, yeah, - A new market.
- Delivered to a new market.
They're expanding, they're able to export them overseas.
And they're able to keep their traditions going.
- How 'bout a packet of seaweed tempura?
(upbeat music)
Oh my goodness, they are the best.
You're gonna lose your mind on those.
- Oh, they're like Japanese Skips.
- They're the best, Ebbers give them back.
- After one more.
- This is my box Ebbers!
Stop infiltrating it.
- You can thank me for delivering you the gift,
but you can also thank Ellie Kempe
who was the person who recommended this to us
on the community tab.
- Thank you Ellie Kempe.
The reason that I like this box so much is because
it's a great insight into something completely different
from our current culture.
- But committing to that every month as a subscription box
is a whole different ball game.
- Unless it's potentially nostalgia.
People who can't get their favourite snacks
that they've always loved,
actually that kind of taste of home
might be an interesting angle.
- I completely agree.
- Do you wanna have a stab in the dark at how much
it might cost?
This is a U.S. based company.
The price does include shipping from Japan.
In each box you get 20 to 24 different products.
- 40 pounds.
- A month?
- Well I don't see how on Earth they can make it work
for any less then that if it includes shipping from Japan.
40 pounds a month.
- $40 a month, about 30 pounds ish.
- I think if you want it you'll justify that price easily.
- And the question that's on everybody's lips,
would you check your mail or is it an instant fail?
- Oh I'd be checking my mail.
- Barry, my turn to gift to you.
- Oh, chocolate box.
Oh okay.
- Cocoa Runners is where you join a club
where the bars taste better, are better for you,
and better for the farmers, and the planet.
- [Barry And Mike] Nice, nice.
- [Barry] Yes.
- [Ben] So it is the world's foremost selection
of luxury single estate chocolate.
- Okay, interesting.
So much like the Japanese snack box,
every month is a different theme.
Your theme today, or this month, is textures.
- [Mike] That is a decent theme, I like it.
- We're gonna start in Grenada.
All right, oh, oh, oh, that is 71% dark.
It's earthy, berry, and intense.
You know it's good 'cause it's mega fruity.
It tastes almost like you're eating raw cocoa nibs.
I struggle with texture as it's the texture of chocolate,
so I don't know what I'm looking for there.
- This is a slow melting, long lasting chocolate texture.
- Oh okay.
- You're so right, 'cause I can't get rid of it.
That's amazing. - No.
It is delicious though.
- Where are we going next?
- [Barry] We're going to Columbia.
This is 65%.
- So each of these are hand-crafted from around the world
by small batch makers.
They kinda cut out the middle man.
They work directly with the farms
and then do small batch bean to bar production.
- Oh we've found a winner.
- The texture straight away completely different.
It's a lot smoother.
It has the same fruitiness,
but it is like having dried fruit.
A more intense sugar.
- That is immediately fruity and immediately sweet,
whereas the other one had such a long tale
that the sweetness came through at the end.
- Keep going, where we going next?
Now I'm moving onto Tcho.
Milk, buttery, caramel, and sweet.
- This one I geek out on,
because this is a San Francisco company
who use a lot of tech, so they have virtual probes,
temperature probes, that are measuring humidity
and temperature at which the beans are fermenting,
where they are fermenting
that they can control that from San Francisco.
So this is like high tech chocolate to get that texture.
- Oh my god.
- Oh wow.
- That's like eating like chocolate flavoured butter.
That's ridiculous.
- Is much sweeter, much more like milk chocolate.
- With the caramel in there as well.
- [Barry] So naughty.
- Wow.
- [Mike] That is exceptional, wow.
- This is Taza!
(upbeat music)
- Cheers.
(upbeat music)
- It's grainy, like they've put really tasty sand in it.
- [Mike] It tastes like cinnamon.
- [Jamie and Ben] Cinnamon.
(Mike clapping)
- Spice badge, give me one right now.
- Yeah it's got cinnamon in it.
So the founder of this particular bean to bar maker
went to Mexico, loved the kind of combination
of cinnamon and chocolate and the way they would grind it
by hand, bought one of the mills, took it back,
and is still using it to this day to mill the texture,
which is why it's not smooth.
It's got almost that biscuity crunch.
- When you're in the supermarket,
it's the same selection every single week
when you're in there, and of the more premium chocolates
there's not a huge amount there to choose from.
Hunting out the right artisanal producers
isn't necessarily easy,
especially on a global scale.
The fact that it's been done for you is really nice.
So I definitely think there's a place for this
as a subscription model.
- How much do you reckon for a monthly subscription?
- Oh no (laughing).
24 pounds?
- Oh, you can have change at 22.95.
- So this is where chocolate is so annoying,
because I know I can go to the shops
and buy a good bar of chocolate for a couple of quid.
- But is it a good bar of chocolate?
- [Barry] No it's not. - Is it from a good place?
Is it giving back to the communities
that grew it? - [Barry] No it's not.
- Exactly.
- But it's what societies excepted is good value
for chocolate, isn't good value for chocolate.
- No. - And we love it,
'cause it's full of sugar and dairy.
I love it too.
- So yes, this is fantastic value,
and I've gotta just be better.
- And you're dead right Baz, because these are all
at least fair trade.
In fact, I think the Dutch one is 50% more
than the fair trade premium, 'cause they know
that is a deserving price not just an acceptable price.
So the question is, are you gonna check your mail
or is it an instant fail?
- I will be checking my mail.
(upbeat music)
This might be a game changer.
Lift the cloche.
- Little Cooks Co.
Chocolate caramel bites.
Have lots of fun in the kitchen making these
gooey, delicious, little bites and then proudly serve them
to your friends and family.
- Now as the OG Sorted dad we thought
this kit is made for you.
- Oh so this isn't for me,
this is for- - Yes.
You're the big cook, this is for little cooks.
This is the Little Cooks monthly cooking kit for kids.
- Oh nice.
Oh this is really cool.
- [Barry] So in there you got two recipes.
One recipe comes with the ingredients to bake something.
In every box there is a baking kit.
And another recipe to cook mid-week with the kids.
- Ah, what's the mid-week meal, I'm interested.
- Flat breads.
- [Mike] Okay.
- [Barry] So the kit is basically designed
to kind of help kids and families stay healthy and happy.
Healthy being everything's organic, and happy,
you're cooking together and spending more time together.
So should we make something?
- Yes daddy.
- No, no! (Jamie laughing)
- That took a sour turn...
- No daddy.
Right, you've got everything you need.
- I'm gonna place my dates, milk, and some warm water
into a blender jug and set aside.
- Now one of the things that Little Cooks are aiming to do
is to help create healthier and happier
lifestyles for families.
I know what you're thinking.
- Sugar.
- Sugar, baking. - Lots of it.
Baking, caramel.
- The healthy bit is kinda focusing on scratch cooking,
using well sourced ingredients, and knowing
what you're putting into your food.
So it's more about the education of what is healthy.
- Whilst my dates, milk, and water get to know each other
in this jug, I'm going to melt some coconut oil,
and then I can mix together in a mixing bowl
all of my different flours.
- So is baking something you regularly do with the kids?
'Cause whenever I've cooked at home with Austin, personally,
it's unbelievably stressful.
- He's happy though.
- He's the happiest he's ever been.
But the whole time I'm thinking don't knock that over,
don't pour that in, that's a knife put it down!
- Oh damn I left the hob on again.
- Yeah, exactly.
- It's an age thing, because once they get to Evie's age
then that becomes much easier to manage,
and actually she can help out with things.
She can actually stir things, not necessarily worry about
knocking things over. - [Barry] Sous chef.
- [Jamie] Yeah, proper sous chef.
- [Ben] Mentorship.
- This is, yeah, look at this.
This is parenting mentorship.
- Dad to dad chat.
- Now Helen the founder, she originally worked
at 10 Downing Street, so it was on leaving
10 Downing Street to become a nutritionist
where she was asked by lots of different parents
about nutrition for their kids, like what to look out for,
and it was from that this idea came up.
- The fact that there's nutritional expertise behind this
I think is quite comforting probably.
Is it as a parent?
- It's just really helpful,
because when you're cooking something,
a chocolate caramel bite,
your instant impression isn't, oh that sounds healthy.
But then you look at the ingredients that are going into it,
all of the different flours, the fact that there are
all the options there to make it vegan if you wanted to,
like there's so much thought that's gone into that,
which is great.
- And even your caramel part is basically
dates, milk, water blended up with a little bit of sugar,
so it's kind of using natural sugars,
but they're still sugar.
- My biscuit base is gonna go into the oven
for about 15 minutes.
That'll give us some time to finish up our date caramel,
make a little chocolate layer,
then when this comes out of the oven and cools down,
we can layer it all up, chuck it into the freezer to cool.
We can dig in.
(upbeat music)
- Mate that looks great.
How was it?
- Nothing in those instructions was really precise.
What had to be done to the
you know to the letter - pre-weighed as well I guess.
- [Jamie] Everything's pre-weighed.
- Which is good, so it's just dunk that in.
- That feels like a real safety net to me,
and can actually help the kids build their confidence,
which is what this should all be about.
- Right, well tuck in, see what you think.
- Cheers boys.
(upbeat music)
- You get more coconut than anything else in that.
- I'm really glad we used the coconut oil
and not the, and not butter.
- It's delicious.
- I like the fact it gives you options,
coconut oil or butter, honey or maple syrup.
There's a few twists and turns you can take
depending on what you've got in your cupboard
to add to the dry ingredients they provide.
- It's nice.
- It's also not just two recipes.
I mean there's seeds there
so you can grow your own tomato seeds.
All the information as to why plants are super.
Like some fun activities to do with
making your own telephone.
This I think is really cool.
Evie would love this, a little record book
to show what she's cooked.
- How much do you reckon that monthly subscription is?
- For me that provides like more than
an afternoons worth of activity.
Once a month you go, right this is gonna be
our cooking afternoon and this is what we'll do.
20 pounds.
- So there's a bunch of different plan options.
The subscription is monthly,
but if you pay by the month it's 12 pounds 99 a box.
If you pay annually you get it down to 8 pound 33 per box.
- I feel like that's really good value.
- So back to the question.
Are you gonna check your mail, or is it an instant fail?
- I am gonna get Evie to check the mail.
Delegation, parenting.
- Not a dog.
(Jamie laughing)
- [Mike] We too have our own digital food subscription.
Meal Packs is an app which helps you plan, cook,
and save money on a weeks worth of meals.
It's designed by chefs but tested by normals.
You'll reduce food waste, wash up as you go,
and cook dishes as if you were a chef yourself.
Plus, you can try it out completely risk free for a month.
(upbeat music)
- Right Ebbers, you can only have this
if you contain yourself and keep it in your pants.
(boys laughing)
- Forage Box.
In a compostable bag, fresh bistort.
- What? - Bistort, what's that?
- Fresh garlic mustard.
Alexanders seeds.
Dandy root chutney, dandelion and nettle.
- [Everyone] Ooh.
- Oh here we go.
- Sloe Blossom syrup.
- Right, so Ebbers, what you have here
is indeed a Forage Box.
"Here at Forage Box we love our wild food.
We believe that nature offers us ingredients
that are tastier, healthier and more sustainable
than anything you could find in a supermarket.
We understand that no one can realistically live off
foraged food entirely, so by delivering a selection
of ingredients to you in meal sized portions
we aim to get wild ingredients into your everyday cooking."
So every month there's a new set of ingredients,
all seasonal, all foraged, that come to your doorstep
with some hopefully brand new ingredients to you.
Here we go, cheeky Ebbers smile, there we go.
- I think I've heard of about 50% off these.
- What is great about the website is that
all the ingredients have accompanying information.
So for example, fresh garlic mustard, spoiler alert,
great alternative to garlic and mustard.
- I love just keeping an eye open
for things that look familiar, but I'm not sure
I would have the confidence to pick up something like that
and think that's edible.
That's where this is kinda cool.
- So shall we taste some and see what they taste like?
- I've already sniffed and nibbled a few,
but let's put them to practise.
- So Ebbers first up you have goat cheese and chutney
puff pastry tartlets, and I want you
to whack some of your dandy chutney on top of that.
- [Barry and Jamie] Cheers.
(upbeat music)
- It is delicious.
Tangy and sharp.
- [Jamie] It's really tart isn't it?
It's lovely,
- [Mike] All right, well before you've even finished
your mouthful, that is a great quality vanilla ice cream.
Drizzle over some of your sloe blossom syrup.
- It's very floral and therefor it's quite light.
It's so subtle and floral
that with such a good vanilla ice cream
that packs such a punch, they kind of fight each other,
but on its own, really, really good.
Hmm, I'm gonna come back to that one.
- (spluttering) Did you see that?
- [Mike] That is a delicious tomato salad
but with ground Alexanders seeds on the top.
Oh, oh, another cheeky Ebbers smile there.
- Yeah, because that accentuates and lifts the dish,
but takes it slightly different.
It is different to black pepper.
It's less warming, more savoury.
- Oh. - Interesting.
- You've got another on the side there Ebbers,
grab hold of that.
That is delicious white fish wrapped
in steamed garlic mustard.
Also wrapped in kombu,
and you have a kombu based sauce there as well.
- Oh there it is, the little chuckle.
- Cheeky Ebbers chuckle.
- The chuckle tells you exactly the mood I'm in.
That's so good, and to be honest with you,
I think the box also then become a catalyst for inspiration
so what's something cool and new I can do with this,
and it pushes you to try new things.
- Finally Ebbers lets test out this fresh Bistort.
You have Greek eggs there off our CBA2 book.
- And that is a simple recipe with one twist,
because we used spinach.
- [Barry] I love this recipe.
- Spinach is kinda a bit irony I suppose
when you cook it out,
whereas I don't think this is as strong a flavour,
but is a good vehicle for flavour.
This was wonderful, 'cause I was fed and it was delicious.
The only piece of this that I would love to know is bistort.
Where am I gonna find it?
- Myself and Forage Box have you covered,
because you can actually do getaway foraging workshops
to go and learn about all of these things,
where they come from, and actually go to those places,
forage them yourself.
- Love it.
This is a great exploration and a catalyst
to inspire you to do something different.
- Let's talk about price.
Every box that you buy, one pound goes to Fare Share,
which is a charity fighting hunger poverty.
- If I had to stab in the dark, 25 quid a month.
- [Mike] 20 pounds a month.
You'd pay that?
- I would pay that actually.
- That's another subscription that he's said he's gonna do.
- So Ebbers are you checking the mail
or is this an instant fail?
- This video format is costing me a lot.
I think I'm gonna be checking the mail.
- Cool, well what do you guys think?
Comment down below with your thoughts on those kits.
Would you subscribe or not?
(upbeat music)
(beeping)
- How does one get back into this Barry?
- Oh my goodness.
- Up, up, up.
- I've been On Android for a long time.
(Barry laughing)
- Doesn't have buttons does it, that's the problem.
- It doesn't have a dial.
- Don't spin it round.