A Bokksu of Delights!
Bokksu is a subscription box bringing you a seasonal selection of the best Japanese snacks. Whilst we’re waiting impatiently to be able to go globetrotting again, in the meantime this will bring a rich taste of Japanese culture into your home. It’s amazing how many delights can be crammed into one bright orange box!
Their March box celebrates mochi - sticky rice cakes. The included culture guide explains that these are made from glutinous rice with a higher starch content that creates that chewy texture. It’s a traditional New Year food but is also eaten year round. My first encounter with mochi was eating mochi-coated ice cream. I had no idea until I visited Japan that this isn’t what traditional mochi are like! The Bokksu team has curated a wonderful selection of different mochi. There are filled ones with centres of chocolate ganache, vanilla custard, pudding cream, and a jam tasting of a popular drink called Calpico (apparently it’s similar in taste to Yakult, but sweeter). There are also some sweet Setouchi lemon mochi studded with lemon peel - these smelled zingy and lemony fresh, and I liked the crunchy texture of the peel. And for something completely different, mochi rice is also used to create mochi puffs that are like melt in the mouth meringue clouds. These have the exotic flavour of black syrup kinako! Other sweet (non-mochi) treats include two types of chewy gummies (yuzu and red grape flavours) and orange & black tea crepe biscuit rolls (these smelled deliciously like Terry’s Chocolate Orange). There's a sachet of hojicha tea for a relaxing tea break - brew this for longer for a more intense nutty flavour. There’s plenty for savoury snack lovers too with lots of super light, crunchy and addictive crackers. I loved the onigiri shaped ones flavoured with soy sauce and seaweed - I could happily eat an entire bag of these. The pungent but utterly moreish garlic and paprika heart-shaped rice crackers were such fun to munch. Despite the picture of a garlic bulb engulfed in flames on the packet, they aren’t super spicy, but they are full of flavour! I also enjoyed the very light and crunchy crackers with extra virgin olive oil, which is a fairly unusual flavouring in Japan. Bokksu really is a box of delights. You can tell that so much care has gone into the selection and presentation of the products. Everything is carefully packaged in layers that are both fun to reveal as well as keeping contents snug and secure in their journey across the world. I make a conscious effort to support local and independent businesses, especially given the past year, so it’s great to know that many of Bokksu’s suppliers are small, family-run businesses. Highly recommended! Instagram: @bokksu
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