Batch Charleston Gourmet Food Box Review, November 2014 + 10% Discount Code!

It has taken me a little while to understand the Batch subscription box concept.  It's a bit confusing because their boxes go by different names, according to which city is being featured. At present, you can subscribe to Batch Nashville, Batch Charleston, Batch Memphis or Batch Austin.  In addition, they have a Batch Tour, which is a four month subscription that features each of the above cities for one of the months.  You can also purchase gift batches and many of the items in the batches a la carte through their on-line store.  As if that's not enough choice, they have recently opened a brick and mortar store called The Batch Store in Nashville, TN. Got that?

The November Batch Charleston box recently arrived on my doorstep.  Charleston is a city I've always wanted to visit (preferably in between hurricanes) so these boxes are a good introduction to the area's gastronomic culture.  This month's big four pound box contained four full size items...three of which were welcome; one....uh, not so much!

Each Batch box contains an information card that tells all about the contributing purveyors. This gives some background information and interesting facts about each of them as well as their website URL's in case you want to buy more.

The first item in the box is a 1 lb. bag of Aromatic Rice from Carolina Plantation, the only colonial plantation in the Carolinas that grows rice for commercial sale.  The card says that this rice has a distinctive aroma and flavor that can't be found anywhere else.  Except for jasmine rice, I get bored easily with rice so I'm looking forward to trying out this new flavor.

  

Next is a good spice shelf staple...a jar of Charleston Sea Salt from Bulls Bay Saltworks.  This is hand harvested from the pristine waters located just north of Charleston.  Sea salt is such a popular condiment at the moment; I'm glad to add this to my collection.

I have received Grey Ghost Bakery products in sub boxes before and they never fail to impress! This time, we have a package of Molasses Spice Cookies.  These are made from scratch and are soft and chewy with wonderful flavor.

One problem I am finding with some of the Batch boxes is that many include one item that does not have broad taste appeal, especially outside the featured geographic region.  Since the Batch boxes generally contain full size foods, the inclusion of just one of these can really detract from the value of the box. For November, that item for me is a jar of Pickled Okra from Granna's Gourmet. What can I say?  Fortunately, I have a neighbor who will take this off my hands.

A monthly subscription to Batch Charleston is $29.99. You can save 10% by using code BATCHTASTIC at checkout.  (The code SMALLBIZ will also provide a 10% discount, but I'm not sure how long that will last.)  In addition, they have a three month gift option for $85 which will get boxes for December, January and February.  For the more adventurous, their four month tour begins again in January.  From January through April, get boxes from Nashville, Memphis, Charleston and Austin for a total of $109, excluding tax and shipping.  Of course, you can also buy individual gift batches in their on-line store with prices ranging from $24 to $58 as well as lots of individual items from previous batches.

If any of my readers live in the Nashville area and have had a chance to visit the new Batch Store, please give us a report in the Comments section below. In the meantime, check out their site for lots of terrific holiday gift ideas!

As always, thanks for reading,

Cheryl

Disclosure:  Views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own.  Product discussed in this post was purchased with my own money. Post may contain referral or affiliate links.