RawSpiceBar December 2015 "Scandinavia" Subscription Box Review and 50% Off Coupon

RawSpiceBar sends freshly toasted and ground spices along with recipes to your door every month. The nice thing is that they also send recipes to use the spice blends with! I've had so much fun experimenting in the kitchen with the blends I've received. We've eaten all sorts of interesting things that we never would have had otherwise.

This month features spices for Nordic cuisine. I'm Swedish on my dad's side (my maiden name is basically the Swedish version of Smith) but have Norwegian cousins, who are quite sure that Norway is superior to Sweden in all things. There is, however, an overlap in cuisine that can't be denied. Christmas is always the best time because we get krumkake and struva! Yuuum!

The Cost: $6/month

What You Get: Three spice pouches, which are enough to create 3 individual dishes serving 4-6 people. The total amount of spices will typically weigh between 1-1.5 ounces each month.

Winter Herbs- This blend is of tarragon, sage, white peppercorns, thyme, allspice, black peppercorns, garlic and marjoram. It's intended to be used in chicken pot pie or as a rub for chicken or turkey. It also gives great flavor to vegetable soup. The recipe included, however, was for Potato Herb Gratin and that's how I used it. It was very flavorful and tasty!

Gravlax Spices- Gravlax is not awesome. It's salmon but it's fermented salmon. Blech. No. I'm sure they still make it this way in Scandinavia but not in my kitchen! The spice blend consists of caraway seeds, white peppercorns and coriander. It smells like absolute heaven! Caraway is really common in Nordic cooking. It's in basically everything so this is a true to type Gravlax blend. I'm going to use on salmon but that salmon is going to be cooked before I eat it.

Gingerbread Spices- I'm a little bummed that this blend doesn't have orange peel in it but only because my mom uses it when she makes Pepparkakor. I have some and I think I'll add it to this when I make them. Or I could use it for Pfeffernusse. Hm. So many options!

VERDICT: The spice blends sent this month are both timely and versatile. I loved the theme, it brings back some memories (and reminded me of all the fattening cookies I love so much). I like that the recipes they include are easy enough and made with things normally found in a kitchen. They also have a bunch of recipes online, too, beyond what's included in the shipment. That's one thing I love about this subscription. It introduces so many new foods and recipes.

There have been some changes since this subscription first started. There will now be only three packets of spices instead of 3-4 and you'll receive about 1-1.5oz of spice instead of 2-3 ounces. I'm glad they changed their wording because I wasn't too thrilled with getting less than an ounce when initially (and on the website) it had said 2-3 ounces. So now I can't complain that this month's spices totalled .8oz. Hah! I still wish the packets were resealable like they were previously.

If you would like to sign up for RawSpiceBar, you can do that right here. Use code FRESHSPICES to get 50% off your first month. It really is a fun subscription, especially if you love to cook (and eat).

Do you subscribe to RawSpiceBar? What was your favorite meal? The biggest hit for my husband was the Spicy Gomasio in the April Japan box but I loved the Mango Salsa in the Jamaican one.

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