Universal Yums: August 2022 Review

Posted on August 25, 2022    Posted by Athena Scalzi      13 Comments

Hello again, everyone! Today I’m back with another Universal Yums review. This time it’s the August box, so I’m just barely fitting it in before the end of the month. Hard to believe it’s almost September already!

In case you haven’t seen my other posts over Universal Yums, it is a subscription box company that sends you snacks from other countries, and each month is a different country. This month, I was surprised to open the box, and find that the location was an entire continent, rather than just one country.

Behold, the South American box!

This box came with eleven different snacks.

In the booklet that describes each snack and whatnot, it told you which country in South America each individual snack was from, but still I found it odd, as I’ve never seen them do a whole continent before.

Anyways, I got my dad to help me out with this one, and we took turns picking which snack to try. First up was this package of Fried Corn Snacks:

Upon first glance, these look a lot like unpopped popcorn kernels, but bigger. Because of this, I expected them to be very hard, but they were actually much softer than anticipated, and my dad said they were softer than regular corn nuts. They ended up tasting super similar to plain popcorn as well, and even looked like unexploded popcorn on the inside. They were awfully dry, and eating too many definitely required some water to go with it, but my dad and I agreed they’d be a fine addition to something like a party mix or bar mix. However, we also decided we wouldn’t really go out of way to eat them, as they are fairly meh. I gave these a 6/10, and my dad settled on a 6.5/10.

Switching to something sweet, we tried this Yogurt Flavored Plum Cake:

Our immediate thoughts were “this doesn’t taste like plum at all”. Not only was no plum detectable, but it really didn’t taste much like anything at all. It wasn’t bad, but it was just a very standard little sponge cake. It was like a plain angel food cake you buy at the store before you take it home and add strawberries and whipped cream. Confused by the lack of plum, we looked at the ingredients and found out that there truly was no plum at all in it. No plum flavoring, plum extract, or mention of plum at all. Perhaps it’s like how we call our cakes sponge cakes, but there is no sponge actually in the sponge cake? Anyways, it was pretty simple, but tasty, so we both gave it a 7.5/10.

Next, we tried these Lemon Plantain Chips:

Holy MOLY y’all, these things were like a punch in the face. Putting one on your tongue was like battery acid. There was no actual taste of lemon, just a pure shot of citric acid. Now this isn’t to say that they’re bad, though, in fact I think they’re pretty good, and they’re definitely addicting despite the discomfort that is sure to ensure upon eating more than like, two of them. They’re pleasantly crunchy and not really as hard as banana chips tend to be. We recommend that you don’t put these flat on your tongue or let it sit too long without chewing it, cuz that zing of acid is no joke. I went with a 7.5/10 for these, and my dad rated them a 7/10.

Back to sweet, we have these Candy Coated Cookie Clusters:

Now here was a totally bomb snack. These little clusters were the perfect mix of crunchy cookie and creamy candy coating. They were just like an Oreo, but more chaotic. My dad said they were like a frosted animal cracker that had a transporter accident. And he was right, they did taste a lot like frosted animal crackers, but definitely have more of the appearance of an Oreo. Whatever they resembled, they were delicious, and got an 8/10 from both of us.

Trying out something spicy, we went for these Chili Pepper Flavored Bites:

I was afraid that these would be fiery hot, but they were pretty mild, enough so that they didn’t hurt me, anyway. They were actually very light little airy things, with the texture of Goldfish crackers. They were also very forward with the heat, so you didn’t get that sort of kick on the back end that spicy snacks usually have. I liked them well enough that I would be very interested in trying the other flavors they come in. For me, these earned a 7/10, and my dad gave them a 7.5/10.

Up next was this Coconut Rice Crispy Bar:

Imagine a Nature Valley bar but way better and without the insane mess. This coconut bar is very coconut-y, and pleasantly sweet. So if you don’t like coconut, definitely don’t try this. It looked crunchy, but it was pretty soft! It was nice, and I could totally eat one of these like every day. The candy coating on the bottom was a surprise, but only added to the yumminess. I gave this bad boy a 9/10, and my dad went for an 8/10.

Here we have another snack from the cookie cluster company, but this time it’s White Chocolate Covered Peanuts:

Okay can we just talk about the strange pattern on the outside? They look like dinosaur eggs or something. That wasn’t the only unexpected thing about these peanuts though. My dad and I were imagining something along the lines of a peanut M&M, but they were totally different. They weren’t waxy like the M&Ms are, and the peanuts were strangely crispy instead of chalky. In fact, on the ingredients list, it specifically says “crispy peanuts”. Not sure what that means, but you can definitely tell the difference. Overall, it was an 8/10 from both of us.

Going into fruity territory, we have these Fruit Flavored Gummies:

These gummies were chewy like a Sour Patch Kid, but they were covered in sugar instead of citric acid, making them an extra sweet treat and offering some contrast to the gumminess of the candy itself. There were three flavors: orange strawberry, cherry pineapple, and cherry strawberry. After tasting all three individually, we decided that the orange strawberry was the best one. I could definitely polish off this whole bag if left unchecked, though. It earned a 7.5/10 from me, and a solid 8/10 from my dad.

For the last of the regular snacks, we had these Lemon Cookies:

It doesn’t get much simpler than these cookies right here. Lemon, shortbread, what could be better? These cookies were simple, classic, lemony goodness shortbread with not much else going on. Have them at tea time! Or don’t, I’m not your mother. They got an 8/10 from me and an 8.5/10 from my dad.

Moving onto the candies of the box, first up was this Coffee Flavored Chew:

As someone who normally doesn’t really like coffee, this candy was pretty damn good. Even my dad thought so, and he likes coffee even less than I do. It tasted like coffee but if the coffee had tons of creams and sugars in it. It wasn’t too strong of a coffee flavor at all, honestly, and it was quite good. I would definitely love to have a bowl of these around the house. It got an 8.5/10 from me, and an 8/10 from my dad.

Finally, we tried the Passion Fruit Bubblegum Lollipops:

Listen, I like lollipops as much as the next person, but these lollipops were next level. I’m talkin’ one of the best ‘pops you’ve ever had. It was so fruity, like eating the real deal, and perfectly sweet. And it lasted a while, too! Sadly, the bubblegum at the center was not very good, just a sad little wad of mediocre gum, but honestly who even cares about that part. 8.5/10 from both of us.

As you can see, this box was a total hit. The lowest thing on our list was the corn snacks, and those only got a 6, nothing in this box was even a 5 or below. This box did not miss. We really enjoyed each snack, as well as how much variety there was between the snacks. Although there was nothing that was a 10/10, this box was what we’d consider a jack of all trades box.

What looks the best to you? Have you ever been anywhere in South America? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS