Mary's Secret Ingredients Culinary Review, Fall 2015

Anybody who subscribes to a lot of boxes is used to seeing repeats.  But I bet none of us has ever received a two pound bag of flour in a box before!  More about that in a minute. Mary's Secret Ingredients is a limited edition quarterly subscription box that sends gourmet items, artisanal ingredients and small kitchen products.  If you missed my Summer review, click here to catch up on the subscription details.

Since I was a bit long-winded in the last review, let's just get right to the Fall box and see what goodies are inside. (You don't know me if you don't recognize what a gift I just gave you...ha!) This box contains four full size items and an end of summer pastel drawing from Mary.

The paperwork includes an information brochure, a note from Mary about the box contents and an over-size postcard (suitable for framing) with Mary's original artwork on one side.

The "elephant" in the box is this bag of All Natural Ultragrain Blend All Purpose flour from Ardent Mills.  I had to check the brochure on this one.  The benefit of this flour is that it offers whole grain nutrition but has the taste, texture and appearance of white flour.  I've been quite focused on reducing white flour in my diet over the past year so if this is a cup-for-cup replacement for white flour (as it says in the notes), this is a real find.  Thanks Mary!

This container holds 4 oz. of Sarah's Sea Salt & Tuscan seasonings by Coastal Goods. The seasoning blend includes herbs, spices, garlic, tomato and lemon peel.  Mary suggests sprinkling this on pizza, pasta or grilled vegetables. Unlike some of the seasoning blends I've received, this one seems quite tasty and practical.

This is the World's Most Accurate Measuring Spoon Set from Pourfect. It is a 13 piece set designed for the utmost in accuracy and ease of use.  The spoons are made of plastic and attached to a ring.  They are easy to grip and you can easily detach whichever one you need. Each spoon is marked in English, Metric and Braille.  The sizes included are:  1/64, 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1-1/2, 1T and 2T.  There is even a flat blade for leveling ingredients. I love the concept of this.  My only complaint is that the markings are the same color as the spoon so they are hard for my aging eyes to read.  Maybe that's why the Braille is there!

The last item is a gift-worthy duo from Jenkins Jellies plus a small silver stirring spoon. These are pepper jellies with quite a kick.  One is called Hell Fire Pepper Jelly, a sweet and savory combination used to liven up everything from cocktails to entrees. The second one is Guava Brava Pepper Jelly which combines guava with the Hell Fire base.  They say the result is a party for your taste buds.  They suggest using this one with cheeses, pancakes or to jazz up salad dressing.

That's everything from Mary's Fall box.  Recipes and serving suggestions using these products can be found here. Boxes are $25.95 per month but if you sign up for the annual plan (four boxes), you get a 20% discount, making the total cost $83.04, just 20.76 per box!

As I've mentioned before, Mary is a big supporter of Feed the Children, a very worthwhile cause.  I believe a portion of each sale goes to that organization which is reason enough to give this box a try!  The Winter box will start shipping on November 25th, so there is plenty of time to get your order in.

Thanks for reading,

Cheryl

Disclosure:  Views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own.  Product discussed in this post was purchased by Lone Star Shopper. Post does not contain referral or affiliate links.